February 18 Deut. 29-31:29 and Feb. 19 Deut. 31:30-34

29*These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. 2 -->
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
2 *Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. 5I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out; 6you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink—so that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us for battle, but we defeated them. 8We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 9Therefore diligently observe the words of this covenant, in order that you may succeed* in everything that you do.
10 You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,* your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, 11your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water— 12to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today; 13in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the Lord our God, 15but also with those who are not here with us today. 16You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17You have seen their detestable things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, that were among them. 18It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the Lord our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth. 19All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, ‘We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways’ (thus bringing disaster on moist and dry alike)*— 20the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. 22The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it— 23all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger— 24they and indeed all the nations will wonder, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?’ 25They will conclude, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26They turned and served other gods, worshipping them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them; 27so the anger of the Lord was kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written in this book. 28The Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is now the case.’ 29The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children for ever, to observe all the words of this law. 30 -->
God’s Fidelity Assured
30When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2and return to the Lord your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today, 3then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you. 4Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world,* from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 5The Lord your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.
6 Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. 7The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on the adversaries who took advantage of you. 8Then you shall again obey the Lord, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, 9and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, 10when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11 -->
Exhortation to Choose Life
11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 14No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God* that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 31 -->
Joshua Becomes Moses’ Successor
31When Moses had finished speaking all* these words to all Israel, 2he said to them: ‘I am now a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has told me, “You shall not cross over this Jordan.” 3The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised. 4The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5The Lord will give them over to you and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you. 6Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.’
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: ‘Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. 8It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ 9 -->
The Law to Be Read Every Seventh Year
9 Then Moses wrote down 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. 10Moses commanded them: ‘Every seventh year, in the scheduled year of remission, during the festival of booths,* 11when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people—men, women, and children, as well as the aliens residing in your towns—so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God and to observe diligently all the words of this law, 13and so that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.’ 14 -->
Moses and Joshua Receive God’s Charge
14 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.’ So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting, 15and the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.
16 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. 17My anger will be kindled against them on that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. On that day they will say, “Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?” 18On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. 19Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. 20For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant. 21And when many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness, because it will not be lost from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do even now, before I have brought them into the land that I promised them on oath.’ 22That very day Moses wrote this song and taught it to the Israelites.
23 Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, ‘Be strong and bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them; I will be with you.’
24 When Moses had finished writing down in a book the words of this law to the very end, 25Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26‘Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; let it remain there as a witness against you. 27For I know well how rebellious and stubborn you are. If you already have been so rebellious towards the Lord while I am still alive among you, how much more after my death! 28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, so that I may recite these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, turning aside from the way that I have commanded you. In time to come trouble will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.’ 30 -->
The Song of Moses
30 Then Moses recited the words of this song, to the very end, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:
32Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 2May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew;like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth. 3For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!
4The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just.A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he; 5yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him,* a perverse and crooked generation. 6Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people?Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? 7Remember the days of old, consider the years long past;ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. 8When the Most High* apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind,he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;* 9the Lord’s own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.
10He sustained* him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste;he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye. 11As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young;as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions, 12the Lord alone guided him; no foreign god was with him. 13He set him upon the heights of the land, and fed him with* produce of the field;he nursed him with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock; 14curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams;Bashan bulls and goats, together with the choicest wheat— you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes. 15Jacob ate his fill;* Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!He abandoned God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16They made him jealous with strange gods, with abhorrent things they provoked him. 17They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never known,to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared. 18You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;* you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19The Lord saw it, and was jealous;* he spurned* his sons and daughters. 20He said: I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be;for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. 21They made me jealous with what is no god, provoked me with their idols.So I will make them jealous with what is no people, provoke them with a foolish nation. 22For a fire is kindled by my anger, and burns to the depths of Sheol;it devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23I will heap disasters upon them, spend my arrows against them: 24wasting hunger, burning consumption, bitter pestilence.The teeth of beasts I will send against them, with venom of things crawling in the dust. 25In the street the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers terror,for young man and woman alike, nursing child and old grey head. 26I thought to scatter them* and blot out the memory of them from humankind; 27but I feared provocation by the enemy, for their adversaries might misunderstandand say, ‘Our hand is triumphant; it was not the Lord who did all this.’
28They are a nation void of sense; there is no understanding in them. 29If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern what the end would be. 30How could one have routed a thousand, and two put a myriad to flight,unless their Rock had sold them, the Lord had given them up? 31Indeed their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies are fools.* 32Their vine comes from the vine-stock of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah;their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter; 33their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
34Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? 35Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip;because the day of their calamity is at hand, their doom comes swiftly.
36Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants,when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining. 37Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, 38who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations?Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!
39See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god besides me.I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand. 40For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear: As I live for ever, 41when I whet my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgement;I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. 42I 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 enemy.
43Praise, O heavens,* his people, worship him, all you gods!*For he will avenge the blood of his children,* and take vengeance on his adversaries;he will repay those who hate him,* and cleanse the land for his people.*
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua* son of Nun. 45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.’ 48 -->
Moses’ Death Foretold
48 On that very day the Lord addressed Moses as follows: 49‘Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession; 50you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites. 52Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.’ 33 -->
Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel
33This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death. 2He said:The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us;* he shone forth from Mount Paran.With him were myriads of holy ones;* at his right, a host of his own.* 3Indeed, O favourite among* peoples, all his holy ones were in your charge;they marched at your heels, accepted direction from you. 4Moses charged us with the law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 5There arose a king in Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people assembled— the united tribes of Israel.
6May Reuben live, and not die out, even though his numbers are few.
7And this he said of Judah:O Lord, give heed to Judah, and bring him to his people;strengthen his hands for him,* and be a help against his adversaries.
8And of Levi he said:Give to Levi* your Thummim, and your Urim to your loyal one,whom you tested at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah; 9who said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’;he ignored his kin, and did not acknowledge his children.For they observed your word, and kept your covenant. 10They teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law;they place incense before you, and whole burnt-offerings on your altar. 11Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands;crush the loins of his adversaries, of those that hate him, so that they do not rise again.
12Of Benjamin he said:The beloved of the Lord rests in safety—the High God* surrounds him all day long— the beloved* rests between his shoulders.
13And of Joseph he said:Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choice gifts of heaven above, and of the deep that lies beneath; 14with the choice fruits of the sun, and the rich yield of the months; 15with the finest produce of the ancient mountains, and the abundance of the everlasting hills; 16with the choice gifts of the earth and its fullness, and the favour of the one who dwells on Sinai.*Let these come on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers. 17A firstborn* bull—majesty is his! His horns are the horns of a wild ox;with them he gores the peoples, driving them to* the ends of the earth;such are the myriads of Ephraim, such the thousands of Manasseh.
18And of Zebulun he said:Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out; and Issachar, in your tents. 19They call peoples to the mountain; there they offer the right sacrifices;for they suck the affluence of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.
20And of Gad he said:Blessed be the enlargement of Gad! Gad lives like a lion; he tears at arm and scalp. 21He chose the best for himself, for there a commander’s allotment was reserved;he came at the head of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his ordinances for Israel.
22And of Dan he said:Dan is a lion’s whelp that leaps forth from Bashan.
23And of Naphtali he said:O Naphtali, sated with favour, full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the west and the south.
24And of Asher he said:Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favourite of his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil. 25Your bars are iron and bronze; and as your days, so is your strength.
26There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, majestic through the skies. 27He subdues the ancient gods,* shatters* the forces of old;*he drove out the enemy before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’ 28So Israel lives in safety, untroubled is Jacob’s abode*in a land of grain and wine, where the heavens drop down dew. 29Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread on their backs. 34 -->
Moses Dies and Is Buried in the Land of Moab
34Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants”; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.’ 5Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated. 8The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.