Moses Looks Upon the Promised Land He Cannot Enter

At the time when the days of Moses drew near for him to depart from the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Behold, your days draw near" (Deuteronomy 31:14). He said before Him: Master of the universe, after all this toil You say to me, "Behold, your days draw near"? "I shall not die but live, and recount the deeds of the LORD" (Psalms 118:17). He said to him: You cannot, "for this is the whole of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Moses said: Master of the universe, one thing I ask of You before my death, that I may enter, and that all the gates in the heavens and the depths may be split open, and they will see that there is none beside You. From where? As it is said: "And you shall know this day, and lay it to your heart" and so forth, "there is none else" (Deuteronomy 4:39). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You said "there is none else," so I too say: "And there arose no prophet again in Israel like Moses" and so forth, "for all the signs and the wonders" and so forth, "and for all the great terror which Moses wrought before the eyes of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).