Joshua to Succeed Moses
(Numbers 27:18–23)

1Then Moses went and spake these wordes vnto all Israel, 2And said vnto them, I am an hundreth and twentie yeere olde this day: I can no more goe out and in: also the Lorde hath saide vnto me, Thou shalt not goe ouer this Iorden. 3The Lord thy God he will go ouer before thee: he will destroy these nations before thee, and thou shalt possesse them. Ioshua, he shall goe before thee, as the Lorde hath said. 4And the Lord shall doe vnto them, as he did to Sihon and to Og Kings of the Amorites: and vnto their lande whome he destroyed. 5And the Lord shal giue them before you that ye may do vnto them according vnto euery commandement, which I haue comanded you. 6Plucke vp your hearts therefore, and be strong: dread not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lorde thy God him selfe doeth goe with thee: he will not faile thee, nor forsake thee.

7And Moses called Ioshua, and said vnto him in the sight of all Israel, Be of a good courage and strong: for thou shalt go with this people vnto the lande which the Lorde hath sworne vnto their fathers, to giue them, and thou shalt giue it them to inherite. 8And the Lorde him selfe doeth go before thee: he will be with thee: he will not faile thee, neither forsake thee: feare not therefore, nor be discomforted.

The Reading of the Law
(Nehemiah 8:1–8)

9And Moses wrote this Lawe, and deliuered it vnto the Priestes the sonnes of Leui (which bare the Arke of the couenant of the Lorde) and vnto all the Elders of Israel, 10And Moses commanded them, saying, Euery seuenth yeere when the yeere of freedome shalbe in the feast of the Tabernacles: 11When all Israel shall come to appeare before the Lorde thy God, in the place which he shall chuse, thou shalt reade this Lawe before all Israel that they may heare it. 12Gather the people together: men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may heare, and that they may learne, and feare the Lorde your God, and keepe and obserue all the wordes of this Lawe, 13And that their children which haue not knowen it, may heare it, and learne to feare the Lorde your God, as long as ye liue in the lande, whither ye goe ouer Iorden to possesse it.

God Commissions Joshua

14Then the Lorde saide vnto Moses, Beholde, thy dayes are come, that thou must die: Call Ioshua, and stande ye in the Tabernacle of the Congregation that I may giue him a charge. So Moses and Ioshua went, and stoode in the Tabernacle of the Congregation. 15And the Lorde appeared in the Tabernacle, in the pillar of a cloude: and the pillar of the cloude stoode ouer the doore of the Tabernacle. 16And the Lorde said vnto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers, and this people will rise vp, and goe a whoring after the gods of a strange land (whither they goe to dwell therein) and will forsake me, and breake my couenant which I haue made with them. 17Wherefore my wrath will waxe hote against them at that day, and I will forsake them, and will hide my face from them: then they shalbe consumed, and many aduersities and tribulations shall come vpon them: so then they will say, Are not these troubles come vpon me, because God is not with me? 18But I will surely hide my face in that day, because of all the euill, which they shall commit, in that they are turned vnto other gods.

19Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouthes, that this song may be my witnesse against the children of Israel. 20For I will bring them into the land (which I sware vnto their fathers) that floweth with milke and honie, and they shall eate, and fil them selues, and waxe fat: then shall they turne vnto other gods, and serue them, & contemne me, & breake my couenant. 21And then when many aduersities and tribulations shall come vpon them, this song shall answere them to their face as a witnesse: for it shall not be forgotte out of the mouthes of their posteritie: for I knowe their imagination, which they goe about euen now, before I haue brought them into the lande which I sware. 22Moses therefore wrote this song the same day and taught it the children of Israel.

23And God gaue Ioshua the sonne of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong, and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the lande, which I sware vnto them, and I will be with thee.

The Law Placed in the Ark

24And when Moses had made an ende of writing the wordes of this Lawe in a booke vntill he had finished them, 25Then Moses commaunded the Leuites, which bare the Arke of the couenant of the Lorde, saying, 26Take the booke of this Lawe, and put ye it in the side of the Arke of the couenant of the Lorde your God, that it may be there for a witnes against thee. 27For I knowe thy rebellion and thy stiffe necke: beholde, I being yet aliue with you this day, ye are rebellious against the Lorde: howe much more then after my death? 28Gather vnto me all the Elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speake these wordes in their audience, and call heauen and earth to recorde against them. 29For I am sure that after my death ye will vtterly be corrupt and turne from the way, which I haue commaunded you: therefore euill will come vpon you at the length, because ye will comit euill in the sight of the Lorde, by prouoking him to anger through the worke of your hands.

Moses Begins His Song

30Thus Moses spake in the audience of all the congregation of Israel the wordes of this song, vntill he had ended them.