Deuteronomy 34: Moses sees the land and dies

In plain English: Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. Yahweh showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,

Good to know: Yahweh told Moses to go up to the top of Pisgah and look at the land in 3:27, and to go up Mount Nebo in 32:49.

In plain English: all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea (the Mediterranean),

In plain English: the south (the Negev), and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

In plain English: Yahweh said to him, "This is the land I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it."

Good to know: Yahweh first gave this promise to Abram in Genesis 12:7: "I will give this land to your offspring." He repeats it to Isaac in Genesis 26:3 and to Jacob in Genesis 28:13.

In plain English: So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, as Yahweh had said (literally: at the mouth of Yahweh).

Church tradition: Since verses 5 to 12 tell of Moses' death and burial, readers have asked who wrote them. Some hold that Moses wrote them before he died, some that Joshua wrote them, and some that a later writer added them. The text itself does not say who wrote them.

In plain English: He buried him (or: someone buried him; see the note) in the valley in the land of Moab, across from Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

The Hebrew word: "He buried" is qavar, which the dictionary gives as "to inter". The Hebrew says only "he buried him" and does not name who "he" is.

What changes: Read with "he" as Yahweh, the last one named in verse 5, Yahweh himself buried Moses. Read as "one buried him", the verse simply says Moses was buried, without saying by whom. The old Greek translation says "they buried him". Jude 9 tells of Michael the archangel arguing with the devil "about the body of Moses".

In plain English: Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, and his strength (or: his freshness) was not gone.

Good to know: In 31:2 Moses says "I can no more go out and come in", and here the text says his strength was not gone. The text does not explain how the two fit together.

In plain English: The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days, until the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

In plain English: Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him. The Israelites listened to him and did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Good to know: Yahweh told Moses to lay his hand on Joshua in Numbers 27:18, and Moses did so in 27:23.

In plain English: Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,

Good to know: In 18:15 Moses said that Yahweh would raise up "a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me". Exodus 33:11 says "Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."

In plain English: in all the signs and wonders Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land,

In plain English: and in all the mighty power (literally: the mighty hand) and all the great and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.