Summary: Deuteronomy recounts Moses’ final speeches to the Israelites before entering the Promised Land, emphasizing covenant renewal and obedience to God’s laws.
Deuteronomy was originally just the law code and covenant, written to cement the religious reforms of Josiah, and later expanded to stand as the introduction to the full history. But there is an older theory, which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it.
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible and the final book of the Torah. In the preceding books, Israel had left Egypt and stayed at Mount Sinai for a year, where they entered into a covenant with their God.