Moses' Farewell Addresses

Illustration of Moses' Farewell Addresses

In the fortieth year after leaving Egypt, on the plains of Moab across the Jordan, Moses gathered all Israel and declared the law to a new generation before they entered the promised land without him. His speeches, which make up most of Deuteronomy, retell God's faithfulness in the wilderness, repeat the commandments, and call the people to love the LORD with all their heart, soul, and might. They end with a choice set before the nation: 'I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.'

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Strongest connections in Scripture
Deuteronomy 6 Deuteronomy 30

Key Passages

Hear, O Israel

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

At the heart of Moses' teaching is the call to love the one LORD with everything and to teach His words to the next generation.

H4ear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Choose Life

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Moses closes his appeal by setting life and death before Israel and urging them to choose life by loving and obeying God.

S15ee, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Explore Related

Characters 1

Moses Moses was a prophet chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt during the Exodus. Through…

Places 1

Moab Moab emerged from the lineage of Lot, Abraham's nephew, whose descendants settled east of the Dead Sea…

Themes 2

Obedience Obedience in Scripture is not blind compliance - it is the loving response of someone who trusts the one… Covenant A covenant in the Bible is not a contract but a sacred bond sealed in blood. From Noah's rainbow to the cup…

Did You Know?

1

Moses began these speeches in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month (Deuteronomy 1:3).

2

The name Deuteronomy means 'second law', because the law is restated for a new generation.

3

Jesus answered all three of Satan's temptations with quotations from Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:1-10).

4

Moses was 120 years old and knew he would not cross the Jordan (Deuteronomy 31:2).