12. It is not in heaven

derstand, nor far off. that thou shouldest say, Who shall ascend, and bring it down to us, that we may know it, and do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who will go over, and bring it unto us, that we may know it, and do it? 14. But the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

15. Behold, this day, life and happiness, and death and misery, are set before thee. 16. In that thou art commanded to love the Eternal thy God, walking in his ways, observing his commands, ordinances, and judgements; that thou mayest live, and multiply, and the Eternal thy God may bless thee in the land thou goest to possess.

17. But if thine heart turn away, and thon wilt not obey, but follow other gods; 18. I denounce to thee this day, that ye shall not prolong your days in the land which ye go to possess; ye shall surely perish. 19. I call heaven and earth (i. e. God, angels, and men, &c.) to witness against you. this day, that I have set before you the blessing and the curse, life and death; therefore, chuse life, that ye may be happy, both thou and thy seed; 20. Lov ing the Eternal thy God, obeying his word, cleaving to him; for on this thy life,and the length of thy days, depend, that thou mayest inhabit the land that he promised to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for an inheritance to their seed.

CHAP. XXXI.

MOSES ENCOURAGETH THE PEOPLE.

MOSES spake these words to all Israel. And said, 2. I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in before the people; for the Eternal said to me, Thou shalt not go over the river Jordan. 3. The Eternal thy God will go over before thee, and destroy the nations,

whose land thou shalt possess, and Joshua will lead thee; as the Eternal hath said. 4. And the Eternal shall do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and their soldiers, whom he destroyed. 5.The Eternal shall deliver them into your power, that ye may do to them as ye are commanded.

6, 7. Then Moses addressed Joshua, in the sight of all Israel, saying, Be brave and courageous; for thou must bring this people to the land which the Eternal promised to their fathers to give them; and thou shalt put them in possession of it. 8. The Eternal will be with thee; he goes before thee, and will not fail thee, nor forsake thee; fear not, nor be dismayed.

9. And Moses having written this law, and delivered it to the priests, Levi's posterity, (who bare the ark of the Eternal's covenant), and to all the elders of Israel, 10. He commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, at the feast of tabernacles, 11. When all Israel is come to appear before the Eternal their God, at his sanctuary, where his name is recorded, this law shall be read in the hearing of them all. 12. Assemble them all, men, women, and children, and the stranger that is among you, that they may hear, and learn to fear the Eternal your God, and observe to do all the words of this law. 13. And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Eternal your God, as long as they live in the land which ye go to possess.

14. Now the Eternal said to Moses, Behold the time of thy death approacheth; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. So they went and presented themselves there. 15. Then the Eternal appeared in the symbol of a pillar of cloud, which stood over the door of the tabernacle; 16

And he said to Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people will go a whoring after the strange gods of the inhabitants of the lands, a mong whom they go, and will forsake me, and break my covenant I made with them. 17. Then mine anger shall be kindled against them, and I will for sake them, and hide my face from them; many evils and troubles shall befal them, and they shall be destroyed: and in that day they will say, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? 18. And I will surely hide my face from them, because of all their wickedness and idolatry. 19. Now, therefore, write this song, and teach the Israelites its words, as a witness for me. 20. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, as I promised to their fathers; and they shall abound in wealth and luxury, then will they go astray after other gods, and provoke me, by breaking my covenant. 21. And when many evils and troubles shall befal them, this song shall testify as a witness against them, as it will not be forgotten by their seed; for I know their inclinations, even now before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.

22. Moses, therefore, wrote this song that same day, and taught it the Israelites.

23. And he gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a charge, saying, Be brave, and courageous; for thou shalt bring Israel into the land he promised to them, and the Eternal will be with thee.

24. And when Moses had finished writing the law in a book, 25. He commanded the Levites who bare the ark of the covenant, saying, 26. Put this book of the law (in a casement) at the outside of the ark of the covenant, (only the two tables of the ten commands being within it), that it may be there for a witness against thee. 27. For I know thy rebellious and stubborn dispositions; lo while I am alive with you, ye have been rebellious against

the Eternal; how much more so after my death?

28. Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing, and call heaven aud earth to witness against them; 29. For I know, that after my death, ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and forsake the way wherein I commanded you to walk; and evil will befal you in future times; because ye will do evil in the Eternal's sight, and provoke him to anger by your evil deeds.

30. So Moses spake the words of this song in the hearing of ali the congregation of Israel.

CHAP. XXXII.

MOSES SONG.

HEAR, O heavens, while I speak; and hearken, O earth, to my words.

2. My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech. shall distil as the dew; as gentle showers on the tender herb, and as plentiful dews on the grass.

3. For I will proclaim the Eternal's name; celebrate ye our God's greatness.

4. He is the Creator whose works are perfect, for all his ways are just: a God of truth, and without iniquity, faithful, just, and righteous is he. 5. Yet his degenerate children have corrupted themselves; they are a perverse and unstedfast generation.

6. Do ye thus requit the Eternal, O foolish and inconsiderate people? Is he not thy father and redeemer? Hath he not made and cared for thee.

7. Remember the antient times, consider the generations past; ask thy father, and he will inform thee; the elders, and they will tell thee, 8. When the Most High assigned to the nations their inheri tances, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, he fixt the boundaries of the people, with a view to the number there would be of the Israelites.

9. For that people is the Eternal's, as his portion; Israel is the lot of his inheritance.

10. He fed them in a desart land, in the waste howling wilderness; he led and protected them, and instructed them; he kept and guarded them as the pupil of his eye.

11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth her wings, taketh them on her wings, and beareth them; 12. So the Eternal alone conducted them, and there were no strange gods with them.

13. He will place them on a high and excellent region of the earth, that they may eat the increase of the fields, and get honey from the rock, and the oil of the olives among the rocks; 14. Butter of beeves, and milk of sheep, with the choicest lambs, and rams and goats of Bashan's choice kind; and the best of wheat, and the pure blood of the grape to drink. 15. But the professedly upright, waxed fat by prosperity, (and cast off, and forsook the law, as a bullock that kicks off the yoke, thou art ruined by thy prosperity, pride, and luxury); then they forsook the God that made them, and contemned the Author of their salvation.

16. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, and to anger with their abominations.

17. They sacrificed to dæmons, not to God, to gods who could do them no good; to new gods, whom their fathers feared not.

18. Of the Author of thy life, thou hast been unmindful; and hast forsaken the God that formed thee.

19. And when the Eternal saw it he abhorred them, and was provoked to reject them from being his children.

20. And he said, I will hide my face from their misery; I will make their end destruction, for they are a very froward and faithless generation.

21. They have moved me to jealousy, with what