6. So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
7. Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land.
8. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
9. So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the priests, who carried the Ark of the lord’s Covenant, and to the elders of Israel.
10. Then Moses gave them this command: “At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters,
11. you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the lord your God at the place he chooses.
12. Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions.
13. Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them and will learn to fear the lord your God. Do this as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.”
14. Then the lord said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle, so that I may commission him there.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle.
15. And the lord appeared to them in a pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance to the sacred tent.
16. The lord said to Moses, “You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.