Midrash of the Death of Moses

The Midrash of the Death of Moses (Midrash petirat Moshe), written in Hebrew, crafts an elaborate retelling of Moses’ last days by drawing together motifs and passages from many earlier sources. A variety of versions circulated widely in the Middle Ages, and these stories likely varied each time they were told, making it difficult to speak of a stable version of this text. Moses here pleads with God to stay alive, but God ultimately outwits him.