And it came to pass in the fortieth year…on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; "Turn…and take your journey…to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto…the river Euphrates. Look, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their children after them.

"The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

"Know therefore that the LORD your God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will repay him to his face.

"Therefore it shall come to pass, if you listen to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD your God shall keep unto you the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto your fathers: And he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you: he will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your corn, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which he swore unto your fathers to give you.

"You shall be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, upon you but will lay them upon all them that hate you.

"And you shall consume all the people which the LORD your God shall deliver you; your eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto you. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.

"And he humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.

"Your clothing became not old upon you, neither did your feet swell, these forty years. You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man corrects his son, so the LORD your God corrects you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For what nation is there so great, who has God so near unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

"Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you this day: Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses, and lived in them; And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; And you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers, as it is this day.

"And it shall be, if you do at all forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

"Hear, O Israel: You are to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, ‘Who can stand before the children of Anak!’ Understand therefore this day, that the LORD your God is he which goes over before you; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before your face: so shall you drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said unto you.

"Speak not…in your heart, after that the LORD your God has cast them out from before you, saying, ‘For my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land’: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD does drive them out from before you. Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may perform the word which the LORD swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

And the LORD said unto Moses, "Look, your days approach that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge." And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

And Moses…spoke these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD has said unto me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?

"Look, the heaven and the heaven of heavens are the LORD'S your God, the earth also, with all that in it is. Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

"Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and awesome, which favors not persons, nor takes reward: He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and clothing. Love…therefore the stranger: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling, and swear by his name. He is your praise, and he is your God, that has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen.

"Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven for number. Therefore shall you keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you go to possess it; And that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their children, a land that flows with milk and honey.

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he it is that goes with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you. For this commandment, which I command you, this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far away.

"It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’ But the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your future generations may live: That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cling unto him: for he is your life, and the length of your days: that you may live in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

And the LORD said unto Moses, "Look, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go prostituting themselves after the gods of the strangers of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come to them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?’

"Now therefore write…this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against them. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, that flows with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

"And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles fall upon them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their children: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore."

Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun God’s charge, and said, "Be strong and of a good courage: for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them: and I will be with you."

REFERENCES

Deuteronomy 1:3, 7-8; Deuteronomy 7:7-10, 12-16; Deuteronomy 8:2-6; Deuteronomy 4:7; Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-19; Deuteronomy 9:1-5; Deuteronomy 31:14; Deuteronomy 31: 1-2; Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Deuteronomy 11:8-9; Deuteronomy 31:6; Deuteronomy 30:11-14, 19-20; Deuteronomy 31:16-17, 19-23.

CHAPTER 15