Deuteronomy 31:12 (GNV)

Passage

Gather the people together: men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may heare, and that they may learne, and feare the Lord your God, and keepe and obserue all the wordes of this Lawe,

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 31:10 And Moses commanded them, saying, Euery seuenth yeere when the yeere of freedome shalbe in the feast of the Tabernacles:

Deuteronomy 31:11 When all Israel shall come to appeare before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall chuse, thou shalt reade this Lawe before all Israel that they may heare it.

Deuteronomy 31:12 Gather the people together: men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may heare, and that they may learne, and feare the Lord your God, and keepe and obserue all the wordes of this Lawe,

Deuteronomy 31:13 And that their children which haue not knowen it, may heare it, and learne to feare the Lord your God, as long as ye liue in the lande, whither ye goe ouer Iorden to possesse it.

Deuteronomy 31:14 Then the Lord saide vnto Moses, Beholde, thy dayes are come, that thou must die: Call Ioshua, and stande ye in the Tabernacle of the Congregation that I may giue him a charge. So Moses and Ioshua went, and stoode in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gather", "people", "together", "women", "children", "stranger", "within", and "gates". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gather" and "people", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "When all Israel shall come to appeare..." into verse 13's "And that their children which haue not...", so "gather" and "people" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "gather" and "people" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.