Deuteronomy 31 · a question people ask
Moses says, "I can no more go out and come in" (31:2), but when he dies "His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone" (34:7). Which is it?
Both verses are in the book. Here Moses says, "I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in" (31:2). At his death the book says, "Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone" (34:7). Christians read the two together in two main ways, each resting on verses. All agree that the reason Moses gives for not crossing is the LORD's word: "The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan’" (31:2), the word first given at Meribah (Numbers 20:12-13).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Go out and come in as a leader
Those who hold this view read "go out and come in" as words for leading the people, not for bodily strength. Moses asked for a man "who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in" (Numbers 27:17), and of Joshua the LORD said, "At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in" (Numbers 27:21). On this reading Moses says his time of leading them is over, and the next words give why: "You shall not go over this Jordan" (31:2), with Joshua going over before them (31:3).
Numbers 27:17 · Numbers 27:21 · Deuteronomy 31:2-3
Moses speaks of his years
Those who hold this view read 31:2 as Moses speaking of his age, since he begins, "I am one hundred twenty years old today" (31:2), and the same two Hebrew verbs are used elsewhere of strength at an age: Caleb, "eighty-five years old, today" (Joshua 14:10), says, "As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in" (Joshua 14:11). On this reading the two verses speak of different things: 31:2 is Moses' own word about what he can do at his age, and 34:7 is the book's word about him when he died, "His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone" (34:7).
Deuteronomy 31:2 · Joshua 14:10-11 · Deuteronomy 34:7
The verses
“He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’”
“Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone.”
“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.”