Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹When Moses had finished speakingthese words to all Israel,

²he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’

³The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said.

⁴And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.

⁵The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.

⁶Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

⁸The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

The Reading of the Law

⁹So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,

¹¹when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.

¹²Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.

¹³Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

God Commissions Joshua

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.”So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

¹⁷On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them.On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

¹⁸And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

¹⁹Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

²⁰When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

²¹And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

²²So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

²³Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

The Law Placed in the Ark

²⁴When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,

²⁵he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD:

²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

²⁷For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

²⁸Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

²⁹For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

Moses Begins His Song

³⁰Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

The Slaughter of Gog’s Armies

¹“As for you, O son of man, prophesy against Gog and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

²I will turn you around, drive you along, bring you up from the far north, and send you against the mountains of Israel.

³Then I will strike the bow from your left hand and dash down the arrows from your right hand.

⁴On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast.

⁵You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

⁶I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

⁸Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD. This is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, kindle fires, and burn up the weapons—the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.

¹⁰They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord GOD.

¹¹And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea.It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹²For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

¹³All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display My glory,declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁴And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.

¹⁵As they pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will set up a pillar next to it, until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

¹⁶(Even the city will be named Hamonah.) And so they will cleanse the land.

¹⁷And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.

¹⁸You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.

¹⁹At the sacrifice I am preparing, you will eat fat until you are gorged and drink blood until you are drunk.

²⁰And at My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and warriors of every kind,’ declares the Lord GOD.

Israel to Be Restored

²¹I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them.

²²From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.

²³And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword.

²⁴I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid My face from them.

²⁵Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivityand will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.

²⁶They will forgettheir disgrace and all the treachery they committed against Me, when they dwell securely in their land, with no one to frighten them.

²⁷When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, I will show My holiness in them in the sight of many nations.

²⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, when I regather them to their own land, not leaving any of them behind after their exile among the nations.

²⁹And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”

A Call to Repentance

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:

²“The LORD was very angry with your fathers.

³So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’

⁴Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.

⁵Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

The Vision of the Horses

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat,in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.

⁸I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

⁹“What are these, my lord?” I asked.And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”

¹³So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,

¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

¹⁶Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

¹⁷Proclaim further that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”

The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns.

¹⁹So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

²¹“What are these coming to do?” I asked.And He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head; but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

The Transgression of the Wicked

¹An oracle is in my heartregarding the transgression of the wicked man:There is no fear of Godbefore his eyes.

²For his eyes are too full of conceitto detect or hate his own sin.

³The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.

⁴Even on his bed he plots wickedness;he sets himself on a path that is not good;he fails to reject evil.

⁵Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,Your faithfulness to the clouds.

⁶Your righteousness is like the highest mountains;Your judgments are like the deepest sea.O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

⁷How precious is Your loving devotion, O God,that the children of men take refugein the shadow of Your wings!

⁸They feast on the abundance of Your house,and You give them drink from Your river of delights.

⁹For with You is the fountain of life;in Your light we see light.

¹⁰Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You,and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

¹¹Let not the foot of the proud come against me,nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹²There the evildoers lie fallen,thrown down and unable to rise.