Parshat Vezot Haberakhah5 min read

Moses Wrote the Last Eight Verses with Tears

Every Torah scroll ends with Moses dying. The Talmud wrestled with who wrote those final words and how Moses could have done it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Problem at the End of Every Torah Scroll
  2. The Debate in the Academy
  3. What the Aramaic Translation Refuses to Soften
  4. The View from Nebo

The Problem at the End of Every Torah Scroll

Moses ascends Mount Nebo. God shows him the land from a distance, all of it, from Gilead to Dan, from Naphtali down through Ephraim and Manasseh, Judah to the western sea, the Negev, the valley of Jericho. "I have shown it to you with your eyes, but you will not cross over there" (Deuteronomy 34:4). Then Moses, the servant of God, dies there in the land of Moab. He is buried in an unmarked valley. No one knows the place to this day.

Every Torah scroll ends the same way. And the question that has unsettled readers for two thousand years is the obvious one: if Moses wrote the Torah, how did he write the part where Moses dies?

The Debate in the Academy

The Talmud, in tractate Bava Batra 15a, preserved the debate without resolving it. Two positions, two rabbis, neither comfortable with either answer.

Rabbi Yehuda, and some say it was Rabbi Nehemya, argued that the final eight verses were not written by Moses at all. They were written by Joshua, who succeeded him. The logic was clean: a man cannot write his own death. Moses wrote everything through Deuteronomy 34:4, the last line spoken to him by God, and Joshua completed the scroll. The Torah's final chapter is, on this reading, the first act of the next leader, a eulogy placed at the seam.

Rabbi Shimon rejected this. The Torah is a unified document. Moses was commanded: "Take this Torah scroll" (Deuteronomy 31:26), meaning it was complete at that moment. Not a single letter was missing. For Joshua to have added eight verses after Moses's death, the Torah would have been given incomplete and then amended. That is not the Torah as the tradition understands it.

How then did Moses write his own death? Rabbi Shimon's answer is the one that lodged in the tradition: God dictated the final verses, as he had dictated everything else, and Moses wrote them in tears. The ink ran. The letters were formed. Moses wrote what he was told to write, and the anguish of doing it is held inside the words themselves.

What the Aramaic Translation Refuses to Soften

The Hebrew of the final chapter says Moses died "by the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 34:5). Ancient tradition reads this as a death by divine kiss, God drawing Moses's soul from his body through his mouth, the gentlest possible departure. Targum Onkelos, the authoritative Aramaic translation completed around the 2nd century CE, renders it differently: not "by the mouth of God" but "by the word of God." Not a kiss. A word.

Onkelos strips away the physical intimacy. Everywhere the Torah risks making God too human, Onkelos replaces the body with the voice, the gesture with the utterance. Even in Moses's death, even when the tradition was trying to make his end bearable, Onkelos will not allow God to have lips.

The effect is paradoxical. What sounds like a theological correction ends up being starker and colder. Moses dies not in an embrace but at the command of a word. The abstract God of Onkelos is not warmer than the anthropomorphic God of the plain text. It is more remote.

The View from Nebo

God showed Moses everything. The Aramaic gives the land in its full geographical spread: Gilead to Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim and Manasseh, Judah to the western sea, the Negev, the Kikkar of Jericho. Onkelos translates without alteration. No comfort is added. The scroll of vision is complete and the sentence has already been delivered. The sight of everything you spent your life working toward, given to you only as a view.

The man who split the sea, who argued God out of destroying the entire people after the golden calf, who went back up the mountain a second time and stayed forty days, who spoke with God face to face as a man speaks with a friend, could not cross a river. And when he died, God buried him personally in a valley that no one has ever found, because God did not want a tomb to become a shrine and a shrine to become an idol.

The final sentence of the Torah is the only sentence in a narrative text that the Torah itself endorses as permanent: there has not arisen since in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom God knew face to face. It is eulogy. It is closure. It reads like something written after the fact, by someone looking back.

Rabbi Shimon says Moses wrote it forward, in tears, while still alive.

MosesTorahDeathDeuteronomyProphecy
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Bava Batra 15aTalmud Bavli, Bava Batra

and by the three sons of Korah. Jeremiah wrote his own book, and the book of Kings, and Lamentations. Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote the following, and a mnemonic to remember which books they wrote is yod, mem, shin, kuf: Isaiah [Yeshaya], Proverbs [Mishlei], Song of Songs [Shir HaShirim], and Ecclesiastes [Kohelet]. The members of the Great Assembly wrote the following, and a mnemonic to remember these books is kuf, nun, dalet, gimmel: Ezekiel [Yeḥezkel ], and the Twelve Prophets [Sheneim Asar], Daniel [Daniel ], and the Scroll of Esther [Megillat Ester].

Ezra wrote his own book and the genealogy of the book of Chronicles until his period. The Gemara comments: This supports Rav, as Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Ezra did not ascend from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael until he established his own genealogy, and after that he ascended. This genealogy is what is written in the book of Chronicles. And who completed the book of Chronicles for the generations following Ezra?

Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah. The Gemara elaborates on the particulars of this baraita: The Master said above that Joshua wrote his own book and eight verses of the Torah. The Gemara comments: This baraita is taught in accordance with the one who says that it was Joshua who wrote the last eight verses in the Torah. This point is subject to a tannaitic dispute, as it is taught in another baraita: “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5); is it possible that after Moses died, he himself wrote “And Moses died there”?

Rather, Moses wrote the entire Torah until this point, and Joshua wrote from this point forward; this is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. And some say that Rabbi Neḥemya stated this opinion. Rabbi Shimon said to him: Is it possible that the Torah scroll was missing a single letter? But it is written: “Take this Torah scroll” (Deuteronomy 31:26), indicating that the Torah was complete as is and that nothing further would be added to it.

Rather, until this point the Holy One, Blessed be He, dictated and Moses repeated after Him and wrote the text. From this point forward, with respect to Moses’ death, the Holy One, Blessed be He, dictated and Moses wrote with tears. The fact that the Torah was written by way of dictation can be seen later, as it is stated concerning the writing of the Prophets: “And Baruch said to them: He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll” (Jeremiah 36:18).

The Gemara asks: In accordance with whose opinion is that which Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says that Rav Giddel says that Rav says: When the Torah is read publicly in the synagogue, one person reads the last eight verses in the Torah, and that section may not be divided between two readers? Shall we say that this is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda and not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, as according to Rabbi Shimon these verses are an integral part of the Torah, written by Moses just like the rest?

The Gemara answers: Even if you say that this was said in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, since they differ from the rest of the Torah in one way, as Moses wrote them with tears, they differ from the rest of the Torah in this way as well, i.e., they may not be divided between two readers. It is stated in the baraita that Joshua wrote his own book. The Gemara asks: But isn’t it written toward the end of the book: “And Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died” (Joshua 24:29)?

Is it possible that Joshua wrote this? The Gemara answers: Aaron’s son Eleazar completed it. The Gemara asks: But isn’t it also written: “And Eleazar, son of Aaron, died” (Joshua 24:33)? The Gemara answers: Pinehas completed it.

It is also stated in the baraita that Samuel wrote his own book. The Gemara asks: But isn’t it written: “And Samuel died” (I Samuel 28:3)? The Gemara answers: Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet finished it. It is further stated that David wrote the book of Psalms by means of ten elders, whom the baraita proceeds to list.

The Gemara asks: But then let it also count Ethan the Ezrahite among the contributors to the book of Psalms, as it is he who is credited with Psalms, chapter 89. Rav says: Ethan the Ezrahite is the same person as Abraham. Proof for this is the fact that it is written here: “A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite” (Psalms 89:1), and it is written there: “Who raised up one from the east [mizraḥ], whom righteousness met wherever he set his foot” (Isaiah 41:2).

The latter verse is understood as referring to Abraham, who came from the east, and for that reason he is called Ethan the Ezrahite in the former verse. The Gemara asks: The baraita counts Moses among the ten elders whose works are included in the book of Psalms, and it also counts Heman. But doesn’t Rav say: The Heman mentioned in the Bible (I Kings 5:11) is the same person as Moses? This is proven by the fact that it is written here: “Heman” (Psalms 88:1), which is Aramaic for trusted, and it is written there about Moses: “For he is the trusted one in all My house” (Numbers 12:7).

The Gemara answers: There were two Hemans, one of whom was Moses, and the other a Temple singer from among the descendants of Samuel. The baraita further states that Moses wrote his own book, i.e., the Torah, the portion of Balaam, and the book of Job. This supports Rabbi Levi bar Laḥma, as Rabbi Levi bar Laḥma says: Job lived in the time of Moses. It is written here with regard to Job: “Oh, that my words were written now [eifo]” (Job 19:23), and it is written there in Moses’ words to God: “For in what shall it be known here [eifo]” (Exodus 33:16).

The unusual use of the word eifo in these two places indicates that Job and Moses lived in the same generation. The Gemara comments: But if that is the proof, say that Job lived in the time of Isaac, as it is written in connection with Isaac: “Who then [eifo] is he that has taken venison” (Genesis 27:33). Or say that he lived in the time of Jacob, as it is written with respect to Jacob: “If it must be so now [eifo], do this” (Genesis 43:11).

Or say that he lived in the time of Joseph, as it is written with respect to Joseph: “Tell me, I pray you, where [eifo] are they feeding their flocks?” (Genesis 37:16). The Gemara answers: It could not enter your mind to say this, as it is written in the continuation of the previously mentioned verse: “Oh, that my words were inscribed [veyuḥaku] in a book” (Job 19:23), and it is Moses who is called the inscriber, as it is written with regard to him: “And he provided the first part for himself, for there was the inscriber’s [meḥokek] portion reserved” (Deuteronomy 33:21).

Rava says: Job lived at the time of the spies whom Moses sent to scout the land of Canaan. This is proven by the fact that it is written here: “There was a man in the land of Utz, whose name was Job” (Job 1:1), and it is written there in the account of the spies: “Whether there are trees [eitz] in it” (Numbers 13:20). The Gemara asks: Is it comparable? Here the word that is used is Utz, whereas there the word is eitz.

The Gemara answers: This is what Moses said to Israel, i.e., to the spies: Is that man named Job still alive, he whose years are as long as the years of a tree and who protects his generation like a tree? This is why the allusion to him here is through the word eitz, rather than Utz. The Gemara relates that one of the Sages sat before Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani and he sat and said: Job never existed and was never created; there was never such a person as Job.

Rather, his story was a parable. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said to him: In rebuttal to you, the verse states: “There was a man in the Land of Utz whose name was Job” (Job 1:1), which indicates that such a man did indeed exist. The Gemara asks: But if that is so, that the words “there was” prove that Job existed, what shall we say about the parable that Natan the prophet presented to David: “There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little lamb, which he had bought and reared” (II Samuel 12:3)? Was there really such a person? Rather, it was merely a parable; here too it is merely a parable. The Gemara answers: If so, that it is a parable, why state his name and the name of his city?

Rather, Job was clearly a real person. The Gemara cites another opinion with regard to the time when Job lived. Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Elazar both say: Job was among those who ascended from the exile to Eretz Yisrael at the start of the Second Temple period, and his house of study was in Tiberias. The Gemara raises an objection from what is taught in a baraita: The days of Job’s life extended from when Israel entered Egypt until they left, indicating that this is the period during which he lived and not, as suggested, in the early days of the Second Temple.

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Targum Onkelos, Deuteronomy 34Targum Onkelos

The Hebrew Bible says Moses died "by the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 34:5). Ancient tradition interprets this as death by a divine kiss, the gentlest possible departure from life. Targum Onkelos renders it "by the word of God." Not a kiss. A word. Even in death, Onkelos replaces the physical with the verbal, the anthropomorphic with the abstract.

The final chapter of the Torah is the shortest and the saddest. Moses ascends Mount Nebo. God shows him the entire Promised Land. Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah to the western sea, the Negev, the valley of Jericho. "I have shown it to you with your eyes, but you will not cross over there" (Deuteronomy 34:4). Onkelos translates this without alteration. No comfort is added. No theological explanation softens the verdict. Moses sees everything and enters nothing.

"He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab" (Deuteronomy 34:6). The subject is ambiguous in Hebrew, who buried Moses? God? An angel? Onkelos preserves the ambiguity. "And no man knows his burial place till this very day." The greatest prophet in Israel's history has an unmarked grave. Onkelos adds nothing because nothing can be added. The mystery is the point.

The Torah's final verses deliver its highest praise: "There has not ever arisen a prophet within Israel like Moses, whom God knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). Onkelos renders "knew" as "appeared to". God appeared to Moses in a way He appeared to no other prophet. The uniqueness of Moses is not that he knew God. It is that God chose to reveal Himself to Moses with an intimacy never repeated. The Torah ends with this claim, and Onkelos lets it stand as written, the one statement about God and humanity that needs no Aramaic adjustment.

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Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 35:2Yalkut Shimoni on Nach

"And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God" (Joshua 24:26). Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nehemiah differ about this. One said: these are the last eight verses of the Torah. And one said: these are the cities of refuge. What is meant by "in the book of the Torah of God"? This is what he meant: And Joshua wrote these words among the writings in the book of the Torah of God.

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