Today in the Bible

So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.  Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

“Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

“And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.”  So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.  And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.  And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

“Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’  But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.

“Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, in order that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.  For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.

“Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”

So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.  Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

And it came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, saying, “Take this book of the law and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.  For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death?

“Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

“Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.  Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as the showers on the herb.

“For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!  The Rock!  His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

“They have acted corruptly toward Him, they are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation.

“Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people?  Is not He your Father who has bought you?  He has made you and established you.  Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations.  Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.  For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.  Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.  The LORD alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with him.  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; and He made him suck honey from the rock, and coil from the flinty rock,

Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat– and of the blood of grapes you drank wine.

“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked– You are grown fat, thick, and sleek– then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his salvation.  They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.  They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread.

“You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth.  And the LORD saw this, and spurned them because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.

“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness.  They have made Me jealous with what is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols.  So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, for a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.  I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them.  They shall be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust.  Outside the sword shall bereave, and inside terror– both young man and virgin, the nursling with the man of gray hair.

‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,” Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misjudge, lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant, and the LORD has not done all this.”‘

 “For they are a nation lacking in counsel, and there is no understanding in them.  Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future!  How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up?  Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves judge this.

“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter.  Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the deadly poison of cobras.

‘Is it not laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries?  Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.’

“For the LORD will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants; when He sees that their strength is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free.  And He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge?  Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libation?  Let them rise up and help you, let them be your hiding place!

 ‘See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life.  I have wounded, and it is I who heal; and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

‘Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, as I live forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, and I will repay those who hate Me.  I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’

 “Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance on His adversaries, and will atone for His land and His people.”

Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun.  When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.  For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life.  And by this word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

And the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.

“Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.  For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.” – Deuteronomy 31:9-32:52 (NAS)

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