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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Deuteronomy 32: ASV
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Deuteronomy 32
32
Song of Moses
1Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;
listen, earth, to the words from my mouth.#Jdg 5:3; Pr 4:20; Is 1:2; 28:23; 34:1; 49:1; Mc 1:2
2Let my teaching fall like rain
and my word settle like dew,
like gentle rain on new grass
and showers on tender plants.
3For I will proclaim the Lord’s name.#Ex 33:19; Ps 22:22; 71:16,18; 89:1
Declare the greatness of our God!
4The Rock#Gn 49:24; Dt 32:15,18,30–31; 1Sm 23:28; 2Sm 23:3; Is 30:29; 44:8; Hab 1:12 — his work is perfect;
all his ways are just.#2Sm 22:31; Ps 10:5; 18:30; 25:10; 145:17; Lm 1:18; Dn 4:37
A faithful God,#Dt 7:9; Ps 59:10,17 without bias,
he is righteous and true.
5His people have acted corruptly toward him;#Ex 32:7; Dt 4:16,25; 9:12; Jdg 2:19; Neh 1:7; Zph 3:7
this is their defect#32:5 Or him; through their fault; Hb obscure — they are not his children
but a devious and crooked generation.#Dt 32:20; Ps 78:8; Jr 2:31; Mt 11:16; 12:39; 16:4; 17:7; Ac 2:40; Php 2:15
6Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?#Jr 4:22; 5:21; 10:8
Isn’t he your Father and Creator?#32:6 Or Possessor#Mal 2:10
Didn’t he make you and sustain you?
7Remember the days of old;
consider the years of past generations.
Ask your father, and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will teach you.
8When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance#32:8 Or Most High divided the nations
and divided the human race,#Gn 11:1–9
he set the boundaries of the peoples#Ac 17:26
according to the number of the people of Israel.#32:8 One DSS reads number of the sons of God; LXX reads number of the angels of God
9But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob, his own inheritance.#Nm 18:20; Dt 10:9; Zch 2:12
10He found him in a desolate land,
in a barren, howling wilderness;
he surrounded him, cared for him,#Ezk 16:6–14
and protected him as the pupil of his eye.#Pr 7:2
11He watches over#32:11 Or He stirs up his nest like an eagle
and hovers over his young;
he spreads his wings, catches him,
and carries him on his feathers.#Ex 19:4; Ps 91:4
12The Lord alone led him,
with no help from a foreign god.
13He made him ride on the heights of the land#Is 58:14
and eat the produce of the field.
He nourished him with honey from the rock
and oil from flinty rock,
14curds from the herd and milk from the flock,
with the fat of lambs,
rams from Bashan,#Ps 22:12; Ezk 39:18; Am 4:1; Mc 7:14 and goats,
with the choicest grains of wheat;
you drank wine from the finest grapes.#32:14 Lit drank the blood of grapes, fermenting wine
15Then#32:15 DSS, Sam, LXX add Jacob ate his fill; Jeshurun#32:15 = Upright One, referring to Israel#Is 44:2 became fat and rebelled —
you became fat, bloated, and gorged.
He abandoned the God who made him
and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16They provoked his jealousy with different gods;
they enraged him with detestable practices.#Ex 20:5; 34:14; Dt 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; 29:20; Jos 24:19; 1Kg 14:22; Ps 78:58; Nah 1:2; Zph 1:18; 3:8
17They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known,
new gods that had just arrived,
which your ancestors did not fear.#Ps 106:37; 1Co 10:19–20
18You ignored the Rock who gave you birth;
you forgot the God who gave birth to you.
19When the Lord saw this, he despised them,
angered by his sons and daughters.
20He said, “I will hide my face from them;#Dt 31:17–18; Jb 13:24; 34:29; Ps 10:11; 13:1; 22:24; 27:9; 30:7; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 104:29; 143:7; Is 8:17; 54:8; 59:2; 64:7; Jr 33:5; Ezk 39:23–24; 39:29; Mc 3:4
I will see what will become of them,
for they are a perverse generation —
unfaithful children.
21They have provoked my jealousy
with what is not a god;#32:21 Lit with no gods
they have enraged me with their worthless idols.#1Kg 16:13,26; 2Kg 17:15; Jr 10:8
So I will provoke their jealousy
with what is not a people;#32:21 Lit with no people
I will enrage them with a foolish nation.#Dt 32:6; Ps 74:18; Rm 10:19; 11:14
22For fire has been kindled because of my anger
and burns to the depths of Sheol;#Ps 86:13; Pr 9:18; Is 7:11
it devours the land and its produce,
and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
23“I will pile disasters on them;
I will use up my arrows against them.
24They will be weak from hunger,
ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;
I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs,
as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.
25Outside, the sword will take their children,
and inside, there will be terror;
the young man and the young woman will be killed,
the infant and the gray-haired man.#Is 5:8–30; Jr 9:17–21
26“I would have said: I will cut them to pieces#32:26 LXX reads will scatter them
and blot out the memory of them from mankind,#Ex 17:14; Dt 9:14; 25:19; 29:20; 2Kg 14:27
27if I had not feared provocation from the enemy,
or feared that these foes might misunderstand
and say, ‘Our own hand has prevailed;
it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’”
28Israel is a nation lacking sense
with no understanding at all.#Is 44:19; Jr 29:7
29If only they were wise, they would comprehend this;
they would understand their fate.
30How could one pursue a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,#Lv 26:36
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the Lord had given them up?#Ps 127:1; Lm 3:37; Mk 13:20
31But their “rock” is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
32For their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous;
their clusters are bitter.
33Their wine is serpents’ venom,
the deadly poison of cobras.#Jb 20:14
34“Is it not stored up with me,
sealed up in my vaults?
35Vengeance and retribution belong to me.#32:35 MT; LXX reads On a day of vengeance I will repay.#1Sm 24:12; 2Sm 22:48; Jr 11:20; 51:36; Nah 1:2; Rm 12:19; Heb 10:30
In time their foot will slip,
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly.”
36The Lord will indeed vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants#Ps 135:14
when he sees that their strength is gone
and no one is left — slave or free.#32:36 Or left — even the weak and impaired; Hb obscure
37He will say, “Where are their gods,
the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?
38Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you;
let it#32:38 Sam, LXX, Tg, Vg read them be a shelter for you.
39See now that I alone am he;
there is no God but me.#Is 40:25; 43:11–13; 46:9; Ezk 36:23
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal.
No one can rescue anyone from my power.#Dt 30:15,19; 1Sm 2:6–8; 4:8; Jr 21:8; Hs 2:10
40I raise my hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,
41when I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold of judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood
while my sword devours flesh —
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”#32:42 Or the long-haired heads of the enemy
43Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people,#32:43 LXX reads Rejoice, you heavens, along with him, and let all the sons of God worship him; rejoice, you nations, with his people, and let all the angels of God strengthen themselves in him; DSS read Rejoice, you heavens, along with him, and let all the angels worship him; Heb 1:6#Rm 15:10
for he will avenge the blood of his servants.#32:43 DSS, LXX read sons
He will take vengeance on his adversaries;#32:43 DSS, LXX add and he will repay those who hate him; v. 41#Ps 79:10; Jr 46:10; Mc 5:15; Nah 1:2
he will purify his land and his people.#32:43 Syr, Tg; DSS, Sam, LXX, Vg read his people’s land
44Moses came with Joshua#32:44 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Hoshea; Nm 13:8,16 son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people. 45After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today,#Dt 11:18; Ezk 3:10; Mal 2:2 so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully.#Dt 29:29; 31:12 47For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life,#Dt 30:20; Pr 4:13 and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Moses’s Impending Death
48On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses,#Nm 27:12–14 49“Go up Mount Nebo#Dt 34:1 in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession. 50Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people,#Gn 25:8,17; 35:29; 49:33; Nm 27:13; 31:2 just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.#Nm 20:22–29 51For both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the Waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat me as holy in their presence. 52Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there.”#Nm 20:2–13
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