Bible in a Year.

On the seventy-seventh day, Numbers 32 describes the selection of the tribes of Reuben and Gad to settle east of the Jordan, on the condition that they aid their brothers in the conquest. In Deuteronomy 31, Moses hands over leadership to Joshua and writes the Song of the Law, preparing the people for their departure. Psalm 117, the shortest in the Bible, is a hymn of universal praise that invites all nations to glorify the Lord for His goodness and everlasting faithfulness.

1. And the sons of Ruben and Gad had many flocks of cattle, and their substance in beasts was infinite. And when they saw the lands of Jazer and Galaad fit for feeding cattle,

2. They came to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and the princes of the multitude, and said:

3. Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nemra, Hesebon, and Eleale, and Saban, and Nebo, and Beon,

4. The land, which the Lord hath conquered in the sight of the children of Israel, is a very fertile soil for the feeding of beasts: and we thy servants have very much cattle:

5. And we pray thee, if we have found favour in thy sight, that thou give it to us thy servants in possession, and make us not pass over the Jordan.

6. And Moses answered them: What, shall your brethren go to fight, and will you sit here?

7. Why do ye overturn the minds of the children of Israel, that they may not dare to pass into the place which the Lord hath given them?

8. Was it not thus your fathers did, when I sent from Cadesbarne to view the land?

9. And when they were come as far as the valley of the cluster, having viewed all the country, they overturned the hearts of the children of Israel, that they should not enter into the coasts, which the Lord gave them.

10. And he swore in his anger, saying:.

11. If these men, that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land, which I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: because they would not follow me,

12. Except Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite, and Josue the son of Nun: these have fulfilled my will.

13. And the Lord being angry against Israel, led them about through the desert forty years, until the whole generation, that had done evil in his sight, was consumed.

14. And behold, said he, you are risen up instead of your fathers, the increase and offspring of sinful men, to augment the fury of the Lord against Israel.

15. For if you will not follow him, he will leave the people in the wilderness, end you shall be the cause of the destruction of all.

16. But they coming near, said: We will make sheepfolds, and stalls for our cattle, and strong cities for our children :

17. And we ourselves will go armed and ready for battle before the children of Israel, until we bring them in unto their places. Our little ones, and all we have, shall be in walled cities, for fear of the ambushes of the inhabitants.

18. We will not return into our houses until the children of Israel possess their inheritance:

19. Neither will we seek any thing beyond the Jordan, because we have already our possession on the east side thereof,

20. And Moses said to them: If you do what you promise, go on well appointed for war before the Lord:

21. And let every fighting man pass over the Jordan, until the Lord overthrow his enemies :

22. And all the land be brought under him, then shall you be blameless before the Lord and before Israel, and you shall obtain the countries that you desire, before the Lord.

23. But if you do not what you say, no man can doubt but you sin against God: and know ye, that your sin shall overtake you.

24. Build therefore cities for your children, and folds and stalls for your sheep and beasts, and accomplish what you have promised.

25. And the children of Gad and Ruben said to Moses: We are thy servants, we will do what my lord commandeth.

26. We will leave our children, and our wives and sheep and cattle, in the cities of Galaad:

27. And we thy servants all well appointed will march on to the war, as thou, my lord, speakest.

28. Moses therefore commanded Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun, and the princes of the families of all the tribes of Israel, and said to them:

29. If the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben pass with you over the Jordan, all armed for war before the Lord, and the land be made subject to you: give them Galaad in possession.

30. But if they will not pass armed with you into the land of Chanaan, let them receive places to dwell in among you.

31. And the children of Gad, and the children of Ruben answered: As the Lord hath spoken to his servants, so will we do:

32. We will go armed before the Lord into the land of Chanaan, and we confess that we have already received our possession beyond the Jordan.

33. Moses therefore gave to the children of Cad and of Ruben, and to the half tribe of Manasses the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and the kingdom of Og king of Basan, and their land and the cities thereof round about.

34. And the sons of Cad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,

35. And Etroth, and Sophan, and Jazer, and Jegbaa,

36. And Bethnemra, and Betharan, fenced cities, and folds for their cattle.

37. But the children of Ruben built Hesebon, and Eleale, and Cariathaim,

38. And Nabo, and Baalmeon (their names being changed) and Sabama: giving names to the cities which they had built.

39. Moreover the children of Machir, the son of Manasses, went into Galaad, and wasted it, cutting off the Amorrhites, the inhabitants thereof.

40. And Moses gave the land of Galaad to Machir the son of Manasses, and he dwelt in it.

41. And Jair the son of Manasses went, and took the villages thereof, and he called them Havoth Jair, that is to say, the villages of Jair.

42. Nobe also went, and took Canath with the villages thereof: and he called it by his own name, Nobe.

1. And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel,

2. And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also hath said to me: O Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.

3. The Lord thy God then will pass over before thee: he will destroy all these nations in thy sight, and thou shalt possess them: and this Josue shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.

4. And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sehon and Og the kings of the Amorrhites, and to their land, and shall destroy them.

5. Therefore when the Lord shall have delivered these also to you, you shall do in like manner to them as I have commanded you,

6. Do manfully and be of good heart: fear not, nor be ye dismayed at their sight: for the Lord thy God he himself is thy leader, and will not leave thee nor forsake thee.

7. And Moses called Josue, and said to him before all Israel: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring this people into the land which the Lord swore he would give to their fathers, and thou shalt divide it by lot.

8. And the Lord who is your leader, he himself will be with thee: he will not leave thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

9. And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the ancients of Israel.

10. And he commanded them, saying: After seven years, in the year of remission, in the feast of tabernacles,

11. When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight of the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou shalt read the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing,

12. And the people being all assembled together, both men and women, children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfil all the words of this law:

13. That their children also, who now are ignorant, may hear, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they lire in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

14. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold the days of thy death are nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the tabernacle of the testimony, that I may give him a charge. So Moses and Josue went and stood in the tabernacle of the testimony:

15. And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which stood in the en try of the tabernacle.

16. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people rising up will go a fornicating after strange gods in the land, to which it goeth in to dwell: there will they forsake me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with them,

17. And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall say in that day: In truth it is because God is not with me, that these evils have found me.

18. But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods..

19. Now therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of Israel: that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this song may be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel.

20. For I will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten, and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will serve them: and will despise me, and make void my covenant.

21. And after many evils and afflictions shall have come upon them, this canticle shall answer them for a testimony, which no oblivion shall take away out of the mouth of their seed. For I know their thoughts, and what they are about to de this day, before that I bring them into the land which I have promised them.

22. Moses therefore wrote the canticle and taught it to the children of Israel.

23. And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said: Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee.

24. Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a volume, and finished it:

25. He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. saying:

26. Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony against thee.

27. For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck, While I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead?

28. Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call heaven and earth to witness against them.

29. For I know that, after my death, you will do wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you: and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands.

30. Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end,

1. O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.

2. For his mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever.