Deuteronomy 33:22-34:12

This reading is from the special Torah reading for Simchat Torah, October 22, 2008. The complete Torah reading for the day is Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12, Genesis 1:1-2:3, and Numbers 29:35-30:1. And of Dan he said: Dan is a lion's whelp that leaps forth from Bashan. And of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, sated with favor and full of the Lord's blessing, take possession on the west and south. And of Asher he said: Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favorite of his brothers, may he dip his foot in oil. May your doorbolts be iron and copper, and your security last all your days. O Jeshurun, there is none like God, riding through the heavens to help you, through the skies in His majesty. The ancient God is a refuge, a support are the arms everlasting. He drove out the enemy before you by His command: Destroy! Thus Israel dwells in safety, untroubled is Jacob's abode, in a land of grain and wine, under heavens dripping dew. O happy Israel! Who is like you, a people delivered by the Lord, your protecting Shield, your Sword triumphant! Your enemies shall come cringing before you, and you shall tread on their backs. Moses went up from the steppes of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan; all Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; the whole land of Judah as far as the Western Sea; the Negeb; and the Plain--the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees--as far as Zoar. And the Lord said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 'I will assign it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross there." So Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the Lord. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. And the Israelites bewailed Moses in the steppes of Moab for thirty days. The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses--whom the Lord singled out, face to face, for the various signs and portents that the Lord sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.