2. I am a hundred and twenty years old, and I am no longer able to be your leader. And besides that, the Lord your God has told me that he won't let me cross the River Jordan.
6. Be brave and strong! Don't be afraid of the nations on the other side of the Jordan. The Lord your God will always be at your side, and he will never abandon you.
7. Then Moses called Joshua up in front of the crowd and said:Joshua, be brave and strong as you lead these people into their land. The Lord made a promise long ago to Israel's ancestors that this land would some day belong to Israel. That time has now come, and you must divide up the land among the people.
8. The Lord will lead you into the land. He will always be with you and help you, so don't ever be afraid of your enemies.
9. Moses wrote down all these laws and teachings and gave them to the priests and the leaders of Israel. The priests were from the Levi tribe, and they carried the sacred chest that belonged to the Lord.
14. The Lord told Moses, “You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel.”Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent,
15. and the Lord appeared in a thick cloud right over the entrance to the tent.
16. The Lord said:Moses, you will soon die. But Israel is going into a land where other gods are worshipped, and Israel will reject me and start worshipping these gods. The people will break the agreement I made with them,
17. and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them.
18. They will pray to me, but I will ignore them because they were evil and started worshipping other gods.
19. Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me.
20. I am bringing them into the land that I promised their ancestors. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and the Israelites will have more than enough food to eat. But they will get fat and turn their backs on me and start worshipping other gods. The Israelites will reject me and break the agreement that I made with them.
21. When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me.I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.