words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25 that Moses
commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of
Yahweh, saying, 26 Take this book of the law, and put it by the side
of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there
for a "witness against thee. 27 For I know thy "rebellion, and thy
d'have
"stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye
been "rebellious against Yahweh; and how much more after
death?
my
*Assemble unto 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. 29 For I know that after my death ye will
utterly corrupt yourselves, and "turn aside from the way 'which I have
commanded you; and evil will ""'befall you in the latter days""; because
ye will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke
him to anger through the "work of your hands. [→27®]

28 NX

30 And Moses spake "in the ears of "all the assembly of Israel the words of this
song, until they were finished.

5 They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, "[it is] their
blemish ;

[They are] a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do ye thus requite Yahweh,

O kfoolish people and unwise?

Is not he thy father that hath "bought thee?
He hath made thee, and established thee.
7 Remember the "days of bold,

Consider the years of many generations:

9-13 (Driver, Deut 343), for 24 starts from the same point as 9. According to Moses has already written the law and handed it to the priests and elders, with directions for its public reading every seven years. But at the opening of 24 the words of the law are not yet completely recorded; while on the completion of the book it is given to the Levites to be deposited beside the ark. Thus the sections are rather parallel than continuous. In each the reduction of the law to writing is recorded. In each the sacred book thus written is entrusted to the care of certain recognized authorities, though they are not the same in the two cases. The author of 9-13 could hardly have written

24...

If 9-13 formed one close to the original D, 24.. must have formed another. It has already been suggested that different editions may have received different introductions (cp 115(4) 445N). In a similar manner, the Code may also have received more than one form of conclusion. (Steuernagel, conscious of the incompatibility, proposes to read song' for 'law' in 24 26, and thus treats 24-30 as the introduction to the song.)

1

3128 The language of 27 seems really addressed not to Levi but to Israel generally; and that reference appears still more clearly in 28 your tribes' and 'your officers' (between 'elders' and officers' & inserts 'your judges'). The purpose of the assembly is to give Moses an opportunity of speaking 'these words.' What, then, were they? Driver, Addis, and Steuernagel (to cite no older authorities) identify them with the Song. But it may be doubted whether the Song can be fitly introduced at a distance by the phrase 'speak these words.' Save in Ex 201 where it is immediately followed by the words in question, it always seems to refer to what precedes Gen 208 2918 437 446 Ex 430 197 243 Num 1439 1631 Deut (430) 519 66 1228 31. The phrase as it stands would thus denote the warning in 27 which is to be repeated with the utmost solemnity, heaven and earth being summoned to attest them. It is true that the Song opens with such an appeal: but on the other hand it contains no parallels

h' 94

i' 83

j' 114

k' 37b

l' 11gb

to the predictions in 29. On the other hand, important parallels are found elsewhere; and they point to the view indicated by Dillm (NDJ 390) and elaborated by Westphal and (to a less extent) by Oettli (cp Driver, Deut 1xxiv-v), according to which 8. forms the preface to a parting exhortation by Moses. This address, however, can hardly be identified with 29-30, the elements of which do not seem continuous. The parallels in 29 point strongly to the discourse in 45-40 which probably once followed instead of preceding the exposition of the law; while the appeal to 'heaven and earth' announced in 28 is there solemnly issued 426 cp 3019. This last coincidence suggests that the passage in 3011-20 for which a suitable connexion could not be found with 301-10 may be the sequel of the discourse in 4540 (cp other parallels in 3011 17). Supposing that 45-40 3111-20 are really parts of the same address, where is its beginning? Could 279. have once stood at the head of the whole? Moses is there associated with the priests in an exhortation to all Israel. There is certainly a slight flavour of difference between the priests the Levites' in 279 and the plain Levites of 3125; and the tribal elders and officers are merged in all Israel' (cp 30); but the connexion in other respects seems not inappropriate. The solemn words 2710 become the people' may indicate the ceremonial adoption of Israel by the gift of the law; 'commandments and statutes' cp 440. The conclusion then naturally follows in 3215-47; cp 45 all Israel' 279; 46 testify' cp 425 819 interest in children' cp 49.; 47 6 'your life' cp 3020; 'prolong 3018. The primary cause of the dislocation was the insertion of the Song, which threw out the discourse. The Song also was designed for a 'witness' 3119 cp 26 In 30 R connects the Song with the original introduction to the exhortation by the phrases 'assembly' cp 28 and spake in the ears.'

321 On the date of this poem cp Introd XIV 4 i 161.

5a M Or, corrupted themselves, they &c.-Cp 912,

5b M Or, but a blot upon them. 6 M Or, possessed. Or, gotten,

JE D

D

D'P

"Ask thy father, and he will shew thee;
Thine elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
When he 'separated the children of men,

He set the bounds of the peoples

According to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For Yahweh's Pportion is his people;

Jacob is the lot of his Pinheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land,

And in the waste "howling wilderness;

He compassed him about, he cared for him,

He kept him as the "apple of his eye :

11 As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,
That 'fluttereth over her "young,

"He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his "pinions:

12 Yahweh alone did lead him,

And there was no strange god with him.

13 He made him ride on the "high places of the earth,
And he did eat the bincrease of the field;

And he made him to "suck honey out of the rock,
And oil out of the "flinty rock;

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep,

With fat of lambs,

And brams of the breed of Bashan, and 'goats,

With the fat of kidneys of wheat;

And of the 'blood of the grape thou drankest wine.

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:

Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become 'sleek :
Then he forsook God which made him,

And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They moved him to jealousy with bstrange [gods],
With babominations provoked they him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto demons, [which were] no God,
To gods whom they knew not,

To new [gods] that came up of late,

Whom your fathers dreaded not.

18 Of the Rock that "begat thee thou art "unmindful,
And hast d'forgotten God that gave thee birth.

19 And Yahweh saw [it], and "abhorred [them],

Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20 And he said, I will f'hide my face from them,

I will see what their end shall be:

For they are a very bfroward generation,

Children in whom is no faith.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;

They have provoked me to anger with their vanities:

And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people ;

I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger,

And burneth unto the lowest "pit,

And devoureth the earth with her 'increase,

And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them;

24

I will spend mine "arrows upon them:

[They shall be] wasted with hunger, and 'devoured with "burning heat
And bitter 'destruction;

And the teeth of 'beasts will I send upon them,

With the poison of "crawling things of the dust.

25 m/ Without shall the sword bereave""",

And in the chambers terror;

[It shall destroy] both "young man and virgin,

The suckling with the man of gray hairs.

26 I said, I would "scatter them afar,

I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men :

27 Were it not that I "'feared the provocation of the enemy,

Lest their adversaries should 'misdeem,

Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted,
And Yahweh hath not done all this.

28 For they are a nation "void of counsel,

18 M Or, bare.

24 M burning coals. See Hab 35.

Deut 3228

JE D.

D

D'P

3232 M See 2918.

And there is "no understanding in them.

29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would "consider their latter end!

30 How should "one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Except their Rock had sold them,
And Yahweh had delivered them up?

31 For their rock is not as our Rock,

Even our enemies themselves being "judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
And of the fields of Gomorrah :

Their grapes are grapes of "gall,
w'bitter:
Their clusters are
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons,
And the cruel venom of "'asps.

34 Is not this laid up in store with me,
Sealed up "among my treasures?

35 bVengeance is mine, and recompence,

At the time when their foot shall 'slide:

For the day of their calamity is at hand,

And the things that bare to come upon them shall make haste.
36 For Yahweh shall bjudge his people,

And "repent himself for his servants:
When he seeth that [their] power is a"

gone,

And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.

37 And he shall say, Where are their gods,

The rock in which they "trusted;

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,

[And] drank the wine of their "drink offering?

Let them rise up and help you,

Let them be your "protection.

39 See now that I, even I, bam he,
And there is no god with me:
"I kill, and I make alive;

I have "wounded, and I heal:

And d'there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,

And say, "As I live for ever,

41 If I whet "my glittering sword,

And mine hand take hold on judgement;

I will render bvengeance to mine adversaries,
And will recompense them that hate me.

42 I will make mine "arrows "drunk with blood,
And my 'sword shall devour flesh;

With the "blood of the slain and the captives,
From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O "ye nations, [with] his people :
For he will bavenge the blood of his servants,
And will render vengeance to his adversaries,

And will "make expiation for his land, for his people.

44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and "Hoshea the son of Nun.

46

N

[3020→] 45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all
Israel:
and he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which
I testify unto you this day; which ye shall command your children, to
47 For it is no vain thing for
bobserve to do all the words of this law.
you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall "prolong
your days upon the land, whither ye go over Jordan to 'possess it".

34 M Or, in my treasuries.—Cp 2812,

37 M Or, took refuge.

- 38

In this sense the word occurs here only.

41 MS the lightning of my sword.-Cp Nah 33 Hab 311 Ezek

2118

428 M Or, From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

42b M Or, the hairy head of the enemy.-For hairy' cp Num 65 Ezek 4420+.

438 M Or, Praise his people, ye nations.
43b M Or, ye nations, his people.

44 The conclusion by the author of 3116-22. Immediately
before it repeats 3122, and then reads And Moses came and
spake all the words of this law' &c.

44b Sam & read Joshua. Hoshea occurs only in Num 138 16 (P). The form here seems due either to an accident of transcription or (if intentional) to the harmonistic effort of a later age.

45 The close of the address to which 3124-29 served as introduction cp 3128N.

47 At this point the hortatory supplements to De come to an end. The code and its discourses are incorporated into JE with the Blessing of Moses 33 and the narrative of Moses' death in 34. The treatment of JE by Rd in 34 is analogous to the Deuteronomic editing of the JE narratives in Josh, cp Introd to Josh 4.

298

N

4a

48 And Yahweh "spake unto Moses that "selfsame day, saying, 49 "Get thee g 188 h 138 up into this mountain of Abarim", unto mount Nebo, "which is in the land of Moab, that is 'over against Jericho; and behold the 'land of Canaan, which I g "give i 64 unto the children of Israel for a possession: 50 and die in the mount k 127b whither thou goest up, and be 'gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy i 75 brother died in "mount Hor, and was 'gathered unto his people: 51 because ye "trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the "waters m 1Ɛ4a of Meribah of Kadesh, in the "wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which 'I give the children of Israel.

N

331 And this is the blessing, wherewith "Moses the man of God" blessed the children of Israel "before his death. 2 And he said,

Yahweh came from Sinai,

And rose from Seir unto them;

He shined forth from "mount Paran",

And he came from the ten thousands of "holy ones:

At his right hand "was a fiery law unto them.

3 Yea, he floveth the "peoples;

All his saints are in thy hand:

And they sat down at thy feet;

[Every one] "shall receive of thy words.

4 Moses commanded us a law,

An inheritance for the hassembly of Jacob.

5 And "he was king in Jeshurun,

When the heads of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die;

"Yet let his men be few.

7 And this is [the blessing] of Judah :

and he said,

49 The double location here points to editorial expansion. Dillm assigns the words to Rd cp 15 291 ct P2 and employs the passage to support his view of the priority of P. Similar phenomena may occasionally be found in Josh: they are considered in the Introd to Josh 5 2y.

331 On the Blessing of Moses' and the ascription of 6-25 to an Ephraimite source (ie E) cp Introd XIV 5 i 163. According to the view there indicated 2-5 26-29 are regarded as later addi

n

P

9

86€

94

35

E

JE P

12 Of Benjamin he said,

The "beloved of Yahweh shall dwell in safety by him;
He covereth him all the day long,

And he "dwelleth between his shoulders.

13 And of Joseph he said,

"Blessed of Yahweh be his land;

For the "precious things of heaven, for the dew,
And for the "deep that coucheth beneath,

14 And for the precious things of the "fruits of the sun,
And for the precious things of the growth of the moons,
15 And for the chief things of the "ancient mountains,
And for the precious things of the "everlasting hills,

16 And for the precious things of the earth and the "fulness thereof,
And the good will of him that "dwelt in the "bush:

Let the blessing] come upon the "head of Joseph,

And upon the crown of the head of him "that was separate from his
brethren.

17 "The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his ;

And his horns are the horns of the "wild-ox :

With them he shall "push the peoples all of them, [even] the "ends of
the earth:

And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

And they are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And of Zebulun he said,

Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out ;

And, Issachar, in thy tents.

19 They shall call the peoples unto the mountain;
There shall they offer "sacrifices of righteousness":
For they shall suck the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.

20 And of Gad he said,

Blessed be he that "enlargeth Gad:

He dwelleth as a lioness,

And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.
21 And he "provided the first part for himself,

For there was "the lawgiver's portion "reserved;
And he came with the heads of the people,
He executed the justice of Yahweh,

And his judgements with Israel,
22 And of Dan he said,

Dan is a "lion's whelp,

That leapeth forth from Bashan.

23 And of Naphtali he said,

O Naphtali, satisfied with favour,

And full with the blessing of Yahweh :
Possess thou the "west and the south.

24 And of Asher he said,

Blessed be Asher "with children;

Let him be acceptable unto his brethren,
And let him dip his foot in oil.

25 Thy "bars shall be iron and brass;

25

And as thy days, so shall thy "strength be.
There is "none like unto God, O Jeshurun,

Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help,
And in his "excellency on the "skies.

27 The eternal God is [thy] 'dwelling place,

21b M Or, a ruler's portion.-Cp Gen 4910.
23 M Or, sea.

25a M Or, shoes.-H.

21c M Or, [to].

24 M Or, above sons. 25b M Or, rest. Or, security.-H+.