Deuteronomy 31:16

Commences another saying of the Lord to Moses not connected with Joshua or with 14 f. except by reference to the approaching death of Moses.

And the Lord said … Behold See on 14.

thou art about to sleep with thy fathers In J, Genesis 47:30, and frequently in Kings.

go a whoring after the strange gods of the land Jehovah was Israel's husband, and her worship of other gods is therefore figured as whoredom (as by Hosea), but the figure is the more forcible that such worship often involved physical unchastity as well. Strange, or foreign, gods, not elsewhere in Deut. (though in the Song, Deuteronomy 32:12), is found in E, Genesis 35:2; Genesis 35:4; Joshua 24:20; Joshua 24:23, and in some later books. Of the land whither it goeth in is probably a gloss (Klost., Dillm., Dri., etc.), for it renders the construction of the v. very awkward, which R.V. seeks to relieve by inserting the words -to be." Forsake me, Deuteronomy 28:20, and in E, Joshua 24:16; Joshua 24:20. Break my covenantis found in the Hex. only here, Deuteronomy 31:20 and H, Leviticus 26:15; Leviticus 26:44 and P, Genesis 17:14, but is not uncommon elsewhere.