Liturgical Colour : White

Deuteronomy 31 : 22-30

In diebus illis : Scripsit Moyses canticum, et docuit filios Israel. Praecepitque Dominus Josue, filio Nun, et ait : Confortare, et esto robustus : tu enim introduces filios Israel in terram, quam policitus sum, et Ergo ero tecum.

Postquam ergo scripsit Moyses verba legis hujus in volumine, atque complevit : praecepit Levitis, qui portabant arcam foederis Domini, dicens : Tollite librum istum, et ponite eum in latere arcae foederis Domini, Dei vestri : ut sit ibi contra te in testimonium. Ego enim scio contentionem tuam et cervicem tuam durissimam. Adhuc vivente me et ingrendiente vobiscum, semper contentiose egistis contra Dominum : quanto magis, cum fortuus fuero?

Congregate ad me omnes majores natu per tribus vestras, atque doctores, et loquar audientibus eis sermones istos, et invocabo contra eos Caelum et terram. Novi enim, quod post mortem meam inique agetis et declinabitis cito de via, quam praecepi vobis : et occurrent vobis mala in extremo tempore, quando feceritis malum in conspectu Domini, ut irritetis Eum per opera manuum vestrarum.

Locutus est ergo Moyses, audiente universo coetu Israel, verba carminis hujus, et ad finem usque complevit.

English translation

In those days, Moses therefore wrote the canticle, and taught it to the children of Israel. And the Lord commanded Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Take courage, and be valiant, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with you.”

Therefore after Moses wrote the words of this law in a volume, and finished it, he commanded the Levites, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, saying, “Take this book, and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a testimony against you. For I know your obstinacy and your most stiff neck. While I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord. How much more when I shall be dead?”

“Gather unto me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak these words in their hearing, and will call Heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death, you will do wickedly and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him by the works of your hands.”

Moses therefore spoke in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end.

Canticle

Deuteronomy 32 : 1-4

Attende, Caelum, et loquar : et audiat terra verba ex ore meo.

Verse : Exspectetur sicut pluvia eloquium meum : et descendant sicut ros verba mea.

Verse : Sicut imber super gramen et sicut nix super foenum : quia Nomen Domini invocabo.

Verse : Date magnitudinem Deo nostro : Deus, vera opera Ejus, et omnes viae Ejus judicia.

Verse : Deus fidelis, in quo non est iniquitas : justus et sanctus Dominus.

English translation

Attend, o Heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words that come out of my mouth.

Verse : Let my speech be expected like the rain, and let my words fall like the dew.

Verse : Like the shower upon the grass, and like the snow upon the dry herb, because I will invoke the Name of the Lord.

Verse : Confess the greatness of our Lord, the works of God are perfect, and all His ways are justice.

Verse : God is faithful, in Whom there is no iniquity, the Lord is just and holy.

Collect

Deus, celsitudo humilium et fortitudo rectorum, qui per sanctum Moysen puerum Tuum, ita erudire populum Tuum sacri carminis Tui decantatione voluisti, ut illa legis iteratio fieret etiam nostra directio : excita in omnem justificatarum gentium plenitudinem potentiam Tuam, et da laetitiam, mitigando terrorem; ut, omnium peccatis Tua remissione deletis, quod denuntiatum est in ultionem, transeat in salutem. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, Qui Tecum vivis et regnas in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

O God, the exaltation of the humble, and the strength of the righteous, Who, by Your holy servant Moses, had pleased so to instruct Your people by the singing of Your sacred canticle, that the renewal of the law should be also our guidance, show forth Your power to all the multitude of Gentiles justified by You, and by mitigating Your terror, grant them joy, that, all sins being blotted out by Your remission, the threatened vengeance may give way to salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.