Passage Study
Be Strong because the Lord Goes with You
Deuteronomy 31:1–31:30
Deuteronomy 31 transfers leadership from Moses to Joshua, commands courage rooted in the Lord’s presence, appoints the public reading of the law, and records God’s warning that Israel will turn away. The chapter shows that no human leader can secure lasting faithfulness, directing readers to Jesus, the greater leader who never forsakes His people and writes God’s word on their hearts.
- In this study
- 30 verses · 5 movements
Deuteronomy 31
31:1Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.
31:2He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’
31:3The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as the LORD has spoken.
31:4The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.
31:5The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you.
31:6Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them, for the LORD your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”
31:7Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.
31:8The LORD himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”
31:9Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
31:10Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,
31:11when all Israel has come to appear before the LORD your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
31:12Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn, fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law,
31:13and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
31:14The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
31:15The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door.
31:16The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
31:18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
31:19“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
31:20For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
31:21It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.”
31:22So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.
31:23He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.”
31:24When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
31:25Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, saying,
31:26“Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, that it may be there for a witness against you.
31:27For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death?
31:28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
31:29For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
31:30Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
CONTEXTUAL OVERVIEW
Moses is one hundred twenty years old and will not cross the Jordan. The moment is not staged as a celebration of leadership succession alone; it is a test of where Israel’s confidence rests. Moses will leave, but the Lord goes ahead of the people, destroys the nations before them, and will not fail or forsake them.
The chapter holds promise and warning together. Joshua is commissioned publicly, yet God tells Moses that Israel will later forsake the covenant. Written instruction is therefore placed beside the ark as a witness. The people need more than a gifted successor; they need God’s enduring presence and mercy.
HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT
Deuteronomy 31 begins the book’s final transition from Moses to Joshua. Moses has led Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness, but the land is entered under Joshua. The repeated command to be strong and courageous is not a personality slogan; it is anchored in the Lord’s covenant action and presence.
The instruction to read the law at the Festival of Booths every seventh year includes men, women, children, and resident aliens. Covenant knowledge must not be kept among leaders. Public hearing forms a people who fear the Lord, and it gives future children a story and command they did not witness firsthand.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
- He will not fail you · Deuteronomy 31:6Israel’s hope rests on the Lord’s presence rather than on Moses’ continued availability.
- Assemble the people · Deuteronomy 31:12Children and resident aliens belong among those who hear and learn the covenant word.
- A witness against you · Deuteronomy 31:26The written law tells the truth about God’s will when Israel tries to excuse its rebellion.
CHRIST IN THIS PASSAGE
Joshua can lead Israel into Canaan, but he cannot finally change Israel’s heart. Jesus is the greater leader who brings His people into God’s rest and promises, “I am with you always.” He does not merely repeat the command to be courageous; through His death, resurrection, and Spirit He gives the presence and forgiveness courage requires.
The public reading also anticipates the gospel’s open proclamation. Jesus sends disciples to teach all He commanded among all nations, including those who did not inherit Israel’s earlier story. His saving mission gathers a hearing people, but it rests on His faithfulness rather than on the adequacy of their leaders.
REFLECTION
Transitions expose the supports we have mistaken for God Himself: a leader, a familiar role, a secure routine, or a season that seemed predictable. Deuteronomy does not promise that faithful people never face change. It promises that the Lord who calls them is not absent when familiar help is removed.
Bring your present transition to Jesus. Listen again to His word, include others who need encouragement rather than carrying fear alone, and take the next responsibility before you with confidence grounded in His presence, not your control.
Original Hebrew Word Study
Deuteronomy 31:6
חָזַק
chazaq · H2388
Usually translated: be strong
Chazaq means to be strong. Joshua and Israel are commanded to take courage because the Lord Himself goes before them and will not forsake them.
Follow the Scripture trail
Be Strong because the Lord Goes with You in the larger story
The connection: Moses departs and Joshua receives a real but limited commission; the Lord alone remains Israel’s unfailing leader. Jesus fulfills that hope by bringing forgiveness, His abiding presence, and a mission to teach the nations His life-giving word.
Respond to the passage
Name the change that makes you afraid of being left without support. Bring it to Jesus, receive His promise of presence, and encourage one person who also needs to hear that God has not abandoned them.
- Why does Moses keep directing Israel’s attention from himself and Joshua to the Lord?
- What does the seventh-year public reading reveal about who needs to hear God’s word?
- How does Jesus’ promise to be with His disciples fulfill the deeper need this chapter exposes?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You do not leave Your people. Meet me in every transition, steady me by Your word, and make me a source of courage for those around me as we follow You. Amen.