Deuteronomy 31:12 (LSB)

Passage

Assemble the people, the men and the women and little ones and the sojourner who is within your gates, so that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear Yahweh your God and be careful to do all the words of this law.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 31:10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths,

Deuteronomy 31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before Yahweh your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

Deuteronomy 31:12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and little ones and the sojourner who is within your gates, so that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear Yahweh your God and be careful to do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 31:13 And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, all the days you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 31:14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "assemble", "people", "women", "little", "ones", "sojourner", "within", and "gates". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "assemble" 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 comes to appear before..." into verse 13's "And their children who have not known...", so "assemble" 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 "assemble" and "people" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.