page_title: Book of Deuteronomy
section_title: Summary
hierarchical_section_title: Book of Deuteronomy / Summary
context_page_description: The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Jewish Torah, where it is called Devarim, "the words [of Moses]".
  Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law, later referred to as the Law of Moses. The second sermon reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh and the laws he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends. And the third sermon offers the comfort that, even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored.
  The final four chapters contain the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses, and the narratives recounting the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua and, finally, the death of Moses on Mount Nebo.
  Virtually all secular scholars reject its attribution to Moses and date the book much later, between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE.
context_section_description: Chapters 1–4: The journey through the wilderness from Horeb (Sinai) to Kadesh and then to Moab is recalled.
  Chapters 4–11: After a second introduction at 4:44–49 the events at Mount Horeb are recalled, with the giving of the Ten Commandments. Heads of families are urged to instruct those under their care in the law, warnings are made against serving gods other than Yahweh, the land promised to Israel is praised, and the people are urged to obedience.
  Chapters 12–26, the Deuteronomic code: Laws governing Israel's worship (chapters 12–16a), the appointment and regulation of community and religious leaders (16b–18), social regulation (19–25), and confession of identity and loyalty (26).
  Chapters 27–28: Blessings and curses for those who keep and break the law.
  Chapters 29–30: Concluding discourse on the covenant in the land of Moab, including all the laws in the Deuteronomic code (chapters 12–26) after those given at Horeb; Israel is again exhorted to obedience.
  Chapters 31–34: Joshua is installed as Moses's successor, Moses delivers the law to the Levites (a priestly caste), and ascends Mount Nebo or Pisgah, where he dies and is buried by God. The narrative of these events is interrupted by two poems, the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses.
  The final verses, Deuteronomy 34:10–12, "never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses," make a claim for the authoritative Deuteronomistic view of theology and its insistence that the worship of the Hebrew God as the sole deity of Israel was the only permissible religion, having been sealed by the greatest of prophets.
caption: Moses receiving the Law (top) and reading the Law to the Israelites (bottom)
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