Deuteronomy 31:12

12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;

Deuteronomy 31:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:12

Gather the people together, men, and women, and children
At the three grand festivals in other years, only males were obliged to appear; women might if they would, but they were not bound to it; but at this time all of every age and sex were to be summoned and assembled together; and it is said ^F26, when the king read in the book of the law, all the people were obliged to come and bring their families, as it is said ( Deuteronomy 31:12 ) ; "gather the people" and as it could not be done when it happened on the sabbath day, the reading of the section was put off to the day following:

and thy stranger that [is] within thy gates;
not only the proselyte of righteousness, but the proselyte of the gate that renounced idolatry, for his further conviction and thorough conversion to the religion of the true God; or, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, that they might see the honour and glory of the law. The end is more fully expressed as follows,

that they may hear;
all the laws which God had given:

and that they may learn;
and attain unto the true knowledge and right understanding of them:

and fear the Lord your God;
serve and worship him internally and externally, according to these laws:

and observe to do all the words of this law;
so take notice of them as to put them in practice; and reading them in such a solemn and reverent manner made them the more servable, and raised the greater attention to them, to the importance of them; otherwise they were read in their families, and on sabbath days in their synagogues; see ( Deuteronomy 6:7 ) ( Acts 13:15 ) ( 15:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Bartenora in Misn. Megillah, c. 1. sect. 3.

Deuteronomy 31:12 In-Context

10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,

11 when all Israel is come to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;

13 and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.

14 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.