26 I call and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall .
27 And the Lord shall you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number , whither the Lord shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve , the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither , nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if from thence thou shalt the Lord thy God, thou shalt him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in , and all these things are come upon thee, even in the , if thou to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the Lord thy God is a God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the of thy fathers which he sware unto them. (Deuteronomy 4)
It's exciting to find prophecies about the "latter days" in the Old Testament like the one above. In a speech to the Israelites near the end of his life, Moses prophesies of the scattering of Israel followed by a period of serving false gods, and finally culminating in a gathering in through obedience. The title of the post comes from the NRSV translation of verse 30.
It strikes me how similar this voice of prophecy and warning is compared to the vision given to Nephi about the fate of his seed, which was given to him after his family left Jerusalem. I'll have more to say about that below.
Notice the promise underpinning the entire arc of Israelite history: God will not forget the covenant made to their fathers.
This is also a major theme of the Book of Mormon. For example, we see similar themes in 1 Nephi 22:
3 Wherefore, the things of which I have read are things pertaining to things both temporal and spiritual; for it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations. ...
8 And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.
9 And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
10 And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make bare his arm in the eyes of the nations.
11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.
12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. (1 Nephi 22)
Comparison to Nephi
I can't help but see a parallel between Moses and Nephi. It strikes me as odd that Moses would predict a scattering during this momentous occasion shortly before Israel occupies the promised land, but that's exactly what he does. Similarly, just after his family departs from Jerusalem, Nephi sees in vision that his seed will eventually be overcome by wickedness and will be overtaken by the seed of his brethren (see 1 Nephi 12:14-23).
In another parallel to Moses, Nephi also sees that in the latter days, this mighty work would bring about a grand gathering of Israel and would bring redemption to the house of Israel:
2 And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded. (1 Nephi 14).