DEUTERONOMY, one of the sacred books of the Old Testament, being the last of those written by Moses (see PENTATEUCH). The word is Greek, being compounded of deuteros, second, and nomos, law.
Deuteronomy was written in the fortieth year after the delivery from Egypt, in the country of the Moabites, beyond Jordan; Moses being then in the hundred and twentieth year of his age. It contains, in Hebrew, eleven paroches, though only ten in the edition of the rabbis at Venice; twenty chapters, and nine hundred and fifty-five verses. In the Greek, Latin, and other versions, it contains thirty-four chapters; but the last is not by Moses; and some say that it was added by Joshua immediately after Moses's death, which is the most probable opinion; whilst others contend that it was added by Esdras.