And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the foreign gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have cut with them.
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.
Deuteronomy 31:15 And Yahweh appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.
Deuteronomy 31:16 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the foreign gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have cut with them.
Deuteronomy 31:17 Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’
Deuteronomy 31:18 But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.
The verse centers on "yahweh", "said", "moses", "behold", "down", "fathers", "people", and "arise". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yahweh" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And Yahweh appeared in the tent in..." into verse 17's "Then My anger will be kindled against...", so "yahweh" and "said" 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 "yahweh" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.