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LXX Deuteronomy

Septuagint

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Chapter 31

1 And Moses finished speaking all these words to all the children of Israel;⁠ 2 and said to them, I am this day one hundred and twenty years old; I shall not be able any longer to come in or go out; and the Lord said to me, You shall not go over this Jordan. 3 The Lord your God who goes before you, he shall destroy these nations before you, and you shall inherit them: and it shall be Joshua that goes before your face, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord your God shall do to them as he did to Sihon and Og the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond Jordan, and to their land, as he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord has delivered them to you; and you shall do to them, as I charged you. 6 Be courageous and strong, do not fear, neither be cowardly neither be afraid before them; for it is the Lord your God that advances with you in the midst of you, neither will he by any means forsake you, nor desert you. 7 And Moses called Joshua, and said to him before all Israel, Be courageous and strong; for you shall go in before this people into the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give to them, and you shall give it to them for an inheritance. 8 And the Lord that goes with you shall not forsake you nor abandon you; do not fear, neither be afraid. 9 And Moses wrote the words of this law in a book, and gave it to the priests the sons of Levi who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to the elders of the sons of Israel. 10 And Moses charged them in that day, saying, After seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 when all Israel come together to appear before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their ears, 12 having assembled the people, the men, and the women, and the children, and the stranger that is in your cities, that they may hear, and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God; and they shall listen to do all the words of this law. 13 And their sons who have not known shall hear, and shall learn to fear the Lord your God all the days that they live upon the land, into which you go over Jordan to inherit it. 14 And the Lord said to Moses, Look, the days of your death are at hand; call Joshua, and stand by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony, and I will give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went to the tabernacle of testimony, and stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony. 15 And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony; and the pillar of the cloud stood by the doors of the tabernacle. 16 And the Lord said to Moses, Look, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will arise and prostitute itself by pursuing the strange gods of the land, into which they are entering: and they will forsake me, and break my covenant, which I made with them. 17 And I will be very angry with them in that day, and I will leave them and turn my face away from them, and they shall be devoured; and many evils and afflictions shall come upon them; and they shall say in that day, Because the Lord my God is not with me, these evils have come upon me. 18 And I will surely turn away my face from them in that day, because of all their evil doings which they have done, because they turned aside after strange gods. 19 And now write the words of this song, and teach it to the children of Israel, and you shall put it into their mouth, that this song may witness for me among the children of Israel. 20 For I will bring them into the good land, which I swore to their fathers, to give to them a land flowing with milk and honey: and they shall eat and be filled and satisfy themselves; then they will turn aside after other gods, and serve them, and they will provoke me, and break my covenant. 21 And this song shall stand up to witness against them; for they shall not forget it out of their mouth, or out of the mouth of their seed; for I know their wickedness, what they are doing here this day, before I have brought them into the good land, which I swore to their fathers. 22 And Moses wrote this song in that day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 23 And Moses charged Joshua, and said, Be courageous and strong, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land, which the Lord swore to them, and he shall be with you. 24 And when Moses finished writing all the words of this law in a book, even to the end, 25 then he charged the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 Take the book of this law, and you shall put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; and it shall be there among you for a testimony. 27 For I know your provocation, and your stiff neck; for yet during my life with you at this day, you have been provoking in your conduct toward God: how shall you not also be so after my death? 28 Gather together to me the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, that I may speak in their ears all these words; and I call both heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will utterly transgress, and turn aside out of the way which I have commanded you; and evils shall come upon you in the latter days, because you will do evil before the Lord, to provoke him to anger by the works of your hands. 30 And Moses spoke all the words of this song even to the end, in the ears of the whole assembly of Israel.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 31:1 and LXX Deuteronomy 31:1

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Deuteronomy 31 says that Moses began to speak, while the Greek Septuagint says that Moses finished speaking. The Greek clarifies the narrative by marking the conclusion of the speech in chapters 29–30, but the Hebrew is less clear about Moses’s action.

Passages

Deuteronomy 31:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He said to them, “Today I am 120 years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’ 3 As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

LXX Deuteronomy 31:1

Septuagint
1 And Moses finished speaking all these words to all the children of Israel; 2 and said to them, I am this day one hundred and twenty years old; I shall not be able any longer to come in or go out; and the Lord said to me, You shall not go over this Jordan. 3 The Lord your God who goes before you, he shall destroy these nations before you, and you shall inherit them: and it shall be Joshua that goes before your face, as the Lord has spoken.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Deuteronomy

References

"... This difference reflects the relative order of the third and fourth letter of the first word. Modern scholars debate which text is more likely original, with BHQ preferring the MT and NRSVue following the Qumran text and the LXX ... The speech runs the length of chapters 29 and 30. The logic of the Qumran and LXX text is clear, and 31:1 notes that Moses completed that speech. The logic of MT is less clear, however, since what does “Moses went” mean in the context of one speech followed by another. Where did he go? The problem has long bothered commentators ... The simpler explanation, therefore, is that וילך in 31:1 is the result of a textual mishap (metathesis). From there, the MT took a second step, smoothing out the grammar from “speaking” to “and he spoke.” ... Clearly, Moses did not finish speaking twice, and the second appearance of the phrase is an example of a resumptive repetition, often a sign that material has been added between the two appearances of identical phrases. This would imply that the song in chapter 32 was added later. Understandably, this doubling may have bothered later scribes or editors. Changing the first verse to read “Moses went” instead of “Moses finished” would obviate this problem ..."
Emanuel Tov, Moses "Went" or "Finished"?, Deuteronomy 31:1 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2023), 1–3.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 31:1 and LXX Deuteronomy 31:1

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