And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge,.... It may be a question who gave this charge, the Lord or Moses; according to the connection of the words with the preceding, it seems to be the latter; for the immediate antecedent to the relative he is Moses, and so the Septuagint interpreters understand it; but then they are obliged to read some following clauses different from the original, as, instead of "I swear", they read "the Lord sware"; and the last clause they read, "and he shall be with thee"; but Aben Ezra gives the same sense without departing from the common and genuine reading, supposing that Moses gave the charge in the name and by the authority of the Lord; his words are,
"he gave charge by the commandment of the Lord, therefore he saith, "which I sware unto them";''
but it seems best to understand this of the Lord himself, since he ordered Moses and Joshua to present themselves before him, that he might give the latter a charge, Deuteronomy 31:14; and the language of the following clauses best agrees with him:
and said, be strong and of a good courage; Deuteronomy 31:6;
for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them; Deuteronomy 31:7;
and I will be with thee; Deuteronomy 31:8; the Targum of Jonathan is,
"my Word shall be thy help.''