Deuteronomy 32
32
1“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
2Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
like gentle showers on young plants.
3I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
how glorious is our God!
4He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
how just and upright he is!
5“But they have acted corruptly toward him;
when they act so perversely,
are they really his children?#32:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
6Is this the way you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t he your Father who created you?
Has he not made you and established you?
7Remember the days of long ago;
think about the generations past.
Ask your father, and he will inform you.
Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
8When the Most High assigned lands to the nations,
when he divided up the human race,
he established the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number in his heavenly court.#32:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, which read the number of the sons of God, and Greek version, which reads the number of the angels of God; Masoretic Text reads the number of the sons of Israel.
9“For the people of Israel belong to the Lord;
Jacob is his special possession.
10He found them in a desert land,
in an empty, howling wasteland.
He surrounded them and watched over them;
he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.#32:10 Hebrew as the pupil of his eye.
11Like an eagle that rouses her chicks
and hovers over her young,
so he spread his wings to take them up
and carried them safely on his pinions.
12The Lord alone guided them;
they followed no foreign gods.
13He let them ride over the highlands
and feast on the crops of the fields.
He nourished them with honey from the rock
and olive oil from the stony ground.
14He fed them yogurt from the herd
and milk from the flock,
together with the fat of lambs.
He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats,
together with the choicest wheat.
You drank the finest wine,
made from the juice of grapes.
15“But Israel#32:15 Hebrew Jeshurun, a term of endearment for Israel. soon became fat and unruly;
the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed!
Then they abandoned the God who had made them;
they made light of the Rock of their salvation.
16They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods;
they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.
17They offered sacrifices to demons, which are not God,
to gods they had not known before,
to new gods only recently arrived,
to gods their ancestors had never feared.
18You neglected the Rock who had fathered you;
you forgot the God who had given you birth.
19“The Lord saw this and drew back,
provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.
20He said, ‘I will abandon them;
then see what becomes of them.
For they are a twisted generation,
children without integrity.
21They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God;
they have provoked my anger with their useless idols.
Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people;
I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.
22For my anger blazes forth like fire
and burns to the depths of the grave.#32:22 Hebrew of Sheol.
It devours the earth and all its crops
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
23I will heap disasters upon them
and shoot them down with my arrows.
24I will weaken them with famine,
burning fever, and deadly disease.
I will send the fangs of wild beasts
and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.
25Outside, the sword will bring death,
and inside, terror will strike
both young men and young women,
both infants and the aged.
26I would have annihilated them,
wiping out even the memory of them.
27But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy,
who might misunderstand and say,
“Our own power has triumphed!
The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’
28“But Israel is a senseless nation;
the people are foolish, without understanding.
29Oh, that they were wise and could understand this!
Oh, that they might know their fate!
30How could one person chase a thousand of them,
and two people put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the Lord had given them up?
31But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock,
as even they recognize.#32:31 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Greek version reads our enemies are fools.
32Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison,
and their clusters are bitter.
33Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34“The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things,
sealing them away in my treasury?
35I will take revenge; I will pay them back.
In due time their feet will slip.
Their day of disaster will arrive,
and their destiny will overtake them.’
36“Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people,
and he will change his mind about#32:36 Or will take revenge for. his servants,
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.
37Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods,
the rocks they fled to for refuge?
38Where now are those gods,
who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their offerings?
Let those gods arise and help you!
Let them provide you with shelter!
39Look now; I myself am he!
There is no other god but me!
I am the one who kills and gives life;
I am the one who wounds and heals;
no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!
40Now I raise my hand to heaven
and declare, “As surely as I live,
41when I sharpen my flashing sword
and begin to carry out justice,
I will take revenge on my enemies
and repay those who reject me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh—
the blood of the slaughtered and the captives,
and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’
43“Rejoice with him, you heavens,
and let all of God’s angels worship him.#32:43a As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks the first two lines. Compare Heb 1:6.
Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles,
and let all the angels be strengthened in him.#32:43b As in Greek version; Hebrew text lacks this sentence. Compare Rom 15:10.
For he will avenge the blood of his children#32:43c As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads his servants.;
he will take revenge against his enemies.
He will repay those who hate him#32:43d As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks this line.
and cleanse his people’s land.”
44So Moses came with Joshua#32:44 Hebrew Hoshea, a variant name for Joshua. son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.
45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel, 46he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. 47These instructions are not empty words—they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”
Moses’ Death Foretold
48That same day the Lord said to Moses, 49“Go to Moab, to the mountains east of the river,#32:49 Hebrew the mountains of Abarim. and climb Mount Nebo, which is across from Jericho. Look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel as their own special possession. 50Then you will die there on the mountain. You will join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors. 51For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh#32:51 Hebrew waters of Meribath-kadesh. in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there. 52So you will see the land from a distance, but you may not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
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Deuteronomy 32: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Deuteronomy 32
32
1Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2My doctrine shall drop as the rain;
My speech shall distil as the dew,
As the small rain upon the tender grass,
And as the showers upon the herb.
3For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah:
Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4The Rock, his work is perfect;
For all his ways are justice:
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
Just and right is he.
5They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish;
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6Do ye thus requite Jehovah,
O foolish people and unwise?
Is not he thy father that hath bought thee?
He hath made thee, and established thee.
7Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations:
Ask thy father, and he will show thee;
Thine elders, and they will tell thee.
8When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
When he separated the children of men,
He set the bounds of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.
9For Jehovah’s portion is his people;
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10He found him in a desert land,
And in the waste howling wilderness;
He compassed him about, he cared for him,
He kept him as the apple of his eye.
11As an eagle that stirreth up her nest,
That fluttereth over her young,
He spread abroad his wings, he took them,
He bare them on his pinions.
12Jehovah alone did lead him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
13He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he did eat the increase of the field;
And he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
And oil out of the flinty rock;
14Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the finest of the wheat;
And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine.
15But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:
Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek;
Then he forsook God who made him,
And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16They moved him to jealousy with strange gods;
With abominations provoked they him to anger.
17They sacrificed unto demons, which were no God,
To gods that they knew not,
To new gods that came up of late,
Which your fathers dreaded not.
18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful,
And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth.
19And Jehovah saw it, and abhorred them,
Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20And he said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end shall be:
For they are a very perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.
21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities:
And I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled in mine anger,
And burneth unto the lowest Sheol,
And devoureth the earth with its increase,
And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23I will heap evils upon them;
I will spend mine arrows upon them:
24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat
And bitter destruction;
And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them,
With the poison of crawling things of the dust.
25Without shall the sword bereave,
And in the chambers terror;
It shall destroy both young man and virgin,
The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
26I said, I would scatter them afar,
I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men;
27Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should judge amiss,
Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted,
And Jehovah hath not done all this.
28For they are a nation void of counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.
29Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their latter end!
30How should one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Except their Rock had sold them,
And Jehovah had delivered them up?
31For their rock is not as our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being judges.
32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
And of the fields of Gomorrah:
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter:
33Their wine is the poison of serpents,
And the cruel venom of asps.
34Is not this laid up in store with me,
Sealed up among my treasures?
35Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
At the time when their foot shall slide:
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.
36For Jehovah will judge his people,
And repent himself for his servants;
When he seeth that their power is gone,
And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large.
37And he will say, Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge;
38Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink-offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your protection.
39See now that I, even I, am he,
And there is no god with me:
I kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal;
And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40For I lift up my hand to heaven,
And say, As I live for ever,
41If I whet my glittering sword,
And my hand take hold on judgment;
I will render vengeance to mine adversaries,
And will recompense them that hate me.
42I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,
And my sword shall devour flesh;
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
43Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people:
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
And will render vengeance to his adversaries,
And will make expiation for his land, for his people.
44And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; 46and he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, even all the words of this law. 47For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.
48And Jehovah spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, 49Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession; 50and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: 51because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 52For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel.
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