1   Moyses therfore went, and spake al these wordes to al Israel,

2   and said to them: I am this day a hundred and twentie yeares old, I can not ^note goe out and come in any longer, especially wheras our Lord also hath said to me: Thou shalt not passe ouer this Iordan.

3   Our Lord therfore thy God wil passe ouer before thee: he wil destroy al these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possesse them: and this Iosue shal passe ouer before thee, as our Lord hath spoken.

4   And our Lord shal doe to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kinges of the Ammorheites, and to their land, and shal destroy them.

5   Therfore when our Lord shal haue deliuered these also to you, you shal doe in like manner to them as I haue commanded you.

6   Doe manfully, and be strengthned: feare not, neither tremble ye at their sight: because our Lord thy God him selfe is thy conductor, and wil not leaue, nor forsake thee.

7   And Moyses called Iosue, and said to him before al Israel: Take courage, and be strong: for thou shalt bring in this people into the Land, which our Lord sware that he would geue to their fathers, and thou shalt diuide it by lotte.

8   And our Lord that is your conductor, him selfe

Forwarninges. wil be with thee: he wil not leaue, nor forsake thee: feare not, neither dread thou.

9   Moyses therfore wrote this law, and deliuered it to the priestes the sonnes of Leui, which caried the arke of the couenant of our Lord, and to al the ancientes of Israel.

10   And he commanded them saying: After seuen yeares, in the yeare of remission, in the solemnitie of tabernacles,

11   when al come together out of Israel, to appeare in the sight of our Lord thy God in the place, which our Lord shal choose, thou shalt read the wordes of this law before al Israel, they hearing,

12   and the people being assembled together, as wel men as wemen, children, and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they may learne, and feare our Lord your God, and keepe, and fulfil al the wordes of this law.

13   Their children also who now are ignorant; that they may heare, and feare our Lord their God, al the daies that they liue in the Land, which passing ouer Iordan you goe to obteyne.

14   And our Lord said to Moyses: Behold the daies of thy death are nigh: cal Iosue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of testimonie, that I may command him. Moyses therfore and Iosue went, and stoode in the tabernacle of testimonie,

15   and our Lord appeared there in the piller of a cloude: which stood in the entring of the tabernacle.

16   And our Lord said to Moyses: Behold thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers, and this people rysing vp wil fornicate after strange goddes in the Land, to the which it entreth to dwel therein: there wil they forsake me, and wil make the couenant, which I haue made with them, of none effect.

17   And my furie shal be wrath against them in that day: and I wil forsake them, and wil hide my face from them, and they shal be deuoured: al euils and afflictions shal finde them, so that they shal say in that day: In truth because God is not with me, these euils haue found me.

18   But I wil hide, and keepe close my face in that day, for al the euils, which they haue done, because they haue folowed strange goddes.

19   Now therfore write vnto you ^note this canticle, and teach the children of Israel: that they know it by hart, and sing it by mouth, and this song be vnto me for ^note a testimonie among the children of Israel.

20   For I wil bring them into the Land, for the which I sware to their fathers, flowing with milke and honie. And when they haue eaten, and are ful, and fatte, they wil turne away to strange goddes, and serue them: and wil detract

A Canticle of the law. from me, and make my couenant of none effect.

21   After that manie euils and afflictions shal haue found them, this canticle shal answer them for a testimonie, which no obliuion shal take away out of the mouth of their seede. For I know their cogitations, what thinges they are about to doe this day, before that I bring them into the Land, which I haue promised them. ^note

22   Moyses therfore wrote the canticle, and taught it the children of Israel.

23   And our Lord commanded Iosue the sonne of Nun, and said: Take courage, and be strong: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the Land, which I haue promised, and I wil be with thee.

24   Therfore after that Moyses wrote the wordes of this law in a volume, and finished it:

25   he commanded the Leuites, that caried the arke of the couenant of our Lord, saying:

26   Take this booke, and put it in the side of the arke of the couenant of our Lord your God: that it may be for a testimonie against thee.

27   For I know thy contention, and thy most stiffe necke. Whiles I yet liue and goe in with you, you haue done alwayes contenciously against our Lord: how much more when I shal be dead?

28   Gather to me al the ancientes by your tribes, and your doctors, and I wil speake these wordes in their hearing, and wil inuocate against them heauen and earth.

29   For I know that after my death you wil doe wickedly, and wil decline quickly from the way, that I haue commanded you: and euils shal come vpon you in the later times, when you shal doe euil in the sight of our Lord, to prouoke him by the workes of your handes.

30   Moyses therfore spake, in the hearing of the whole assemblie of Israel, the wordes of this song, and finished it euen to the end.

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