1And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
2And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea,
3And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
4And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.
6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth–peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
7And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.
10And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,
11In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.
📖 Chapter study
Summary
Moses climbs Mount Nebo, where God shows him the whole promised land before his death. He dies there at 120 years old, is buried by God himself in an unknown location, and the book — and the entire Torah — closes with a final tribute: never again did a prophet like Moses arise in Israel, one whom the Lord knew face to face.
Explanation
Moses' death is described with striking dignity: even though he could not enter the promised land because of his own error years earlier, he is given the honor of seeing all of it from the top of the mountain, and God himself takes care of his burial, keeping the location unknown — perhaps to prevent it from later becoming an object of idolatrous worship. The statement that his 'eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated' at 120 years old suggests an extraordinary vitality to the very end, a sign of special blessing on his life. The final tribute — that 'never again did a prophet arise in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face' — closes the entire Pentateuch on a note of unmatched, singular greatness — a standard that, according to Christian faith, would only ultimately be surpassed (not merely equaled) by the coming of Christ, the definitive prophet promised within the very book of Deuteronomy.
Fun facts
- The letter of Jude in the New Testament (v. 9) mentions an extra-biblical tradition about a dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil over the body of Moses, suggesting that the question of Moses' hidden burial sparked significant theological reflection and speculation in the centuries that followed.
- Moses appears alongside Elijah at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:3), symbolically representing the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah) conversing with Christ — one of the most theologically charged moments in the New Testament, directly connecting the death recounted in this final chapter of Deuteronomy to the story of Jesus centuries later.