Episode 77: The death of Moses

(Deuteronomy 31-34)

31 ² Moses continued his speech, saying to all of the Israelites:

² I am 120 years old. I can no longer go out and come in.

God said to me, “You won't cross over the Jordan River.”

³ God will go in front of you, destroying nations so you can possess them. ⁴ He'll do to them as he did to Sihon and Og. ⁵ God will give them to you, so you can kill them all.

Moses writes law and reads it to everyone in Israel

⁹ Moses wrote the entire law and delivered it to the priests.

He said to them,

¹⁰ Every seven years, during the feast of tabernacles, everyone in Israel must appear in front of God in the place God chooses. ¹¹ At this time, the entire law will be read to everyone in Israel so that they all can hear it and fear God.

Moses writes down God's song

¹⁵ God appeared in a cloud over the tabernacle.

^16-17 He said to Moses,

You will die soon, and the people will go whoring after other gods, so I will punish them by having them devoured by evil. ¹⁸ And I will hide my face from them, because they turned to other gods. ¹⁹ So write this song down and teach it to the Israelites.

²² Moses wrote God's song down the same day that he wrote down the law, and he taught it to the Israelites.

Moses sings God's Drunk-With-Blood song

32 ⁸ God divided the nations into Jacob and everyone else.

⁹ He gave his inheritance to Jacob.

¹³ He made him ride the high places and suck honey out of a rock.

¹⁴ You had lots of butter, milk, and fat. And you drank pure blood from the grape.

¹⁵ Now you're covered with fatness. But you rejected God and the rock of his salvation.

¹⁸ You've forgotten the rock that begat you, And the God that formed you.

²² So the fire of my anger will burn in the lowest hell. It will consume the earth.

²³ I will shoot them with all my arrows.

²⁴ They will burn with hunger, be devoured by fire, be bitten by beasts, and poisoned with serpents of the dust.

²⁵ They will live in terror and die by the sword.

I will destroy young men and virgins, babies and old men.

⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword will devour flesh.

God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo and die

⁴⁸ God said to Moses,

⁴⁹ Climb up mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. ⁵⁰ And die.

⁵¹ Because you trespassed against me at the waters of Meribah. ⁵² You will see the promised land, but you won't go there.

Moses's blessing

33 ¹ This was Moses’s blessing before he died:

² God came with tens of thousands of saints. A fiery law came out of his right hand.

¹¹ God will bless the Levites and smite the loins of anyone who opposes them.

¹² Benjamin will live between God's shoulders.

¹³ Joseph will have the precious things produced by the moon.

¹⁷ His horns are like the horns of unicorns.

^18-19 Zebulun and Issachar will suck the abundance of the seas, and the treasures hidden in the sand.

²⁰ Whoever enlarges Gad will be blessed. He lives like a lion and tears the arm with the crown of the head.

²² Dan is a lion cub.

²⁴ Asher will dip his foot in oil.

²⁵ His shoes will be iron and brass.

²⁶ No one is like the God of Jeshurun, who rides through the sky.

God will thrust out your enemy, and will say, "Destroy them."

Moses dies

34 ¹ Moses climbed the mountain of Nebo, where God showed him the promised land.

⁴ God said to him,

This is the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I've let you see it with your own eyes, but you won't go there.

⁵ Moses died there, according to the word of the Lord.

⁷ He was 120 years old. His sight was still good, and he was as strong as ever.

⁹ Joshua was full of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him.

¹⁰ There was never another prophet like Moses, whom God knew face to face.

¹² No one could match his mighty hand or great terror.