Deuteronomy 32
32
1Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2May my teaching drop like the rain,
my speech condense like the dew;
like gentle rain on grass,
like showers on new growth.
3For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4The Rock, his work is perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he;
5yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him,#32.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
a perverse and crooked generation.
6Do you thus repay the Lord,
O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
7Remember the days of old,
consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
8When the Most High#32.8 Traditional rendering of Heb Elyon apportioned the nations,
when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the gods;#32.8 Q Ms Compare Gk Tg: MT the Israelites
9the Lord's own portion was his people,
Jacob his allotted share.
10He sustained#32.10 Sam Gk Compare Tg: MT found him in a desert land,
in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the apple of his eye.
11As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its pinions,
12the Lord alone guided him;
no foreign god was with him.
13He set him atop the heights of the land,
and fed him with#32.13 Sam Gk Syr Tg: MT he ate produce of the field;
he nursed him with honey from the crags,
with oil from flinty rock;
14curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs and rams;
Bashan bulls and goats,
together with the choicest wheat—
you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.
15Jacob ate his fill;#32.15 Q Mss Sam Gk: MT lacks Jacob ate his fill
Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!
He abandoned God who made him,
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16They made him jealous with strange gods,
with abhorrent things they provoked him.
17They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to deities they had never known,
to new ones recently arrived,
whom your ancestors had not feared.
18You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;#32.18 Or that begot you
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19The Lord saw it, and was jealous#32.19 Q Mss Gk: MT lacks was jealous
he spurned#32.19 Cn: Heb he spurned because of provocation his sons and daughters.
20He said: I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
21They made me jealous with what is no god,
provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with what is no people,
provoke them with a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23I will heap disasters upon them,
spend my arrows against them:
24wasting hunger,
burning consumption,
bitter pestilence.
The teeth of beasts I will send against them,
with venom of things crawling in the dust.
25In the street the sword shall bereave,
and in the chambers terror,
for young man and woman alike,
nursing child and old gray head.
26I thought to scatter them#32.26 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
and blot out the memory of them from humankind;
27but I feared provocation by the enemy,
for their adversaries might misunderstand
and say, “Our hand is triumphant;
it was not the Lord who did all this.”
28They are a nation void of sense;
there is no understanding in them.
29If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern what the end would be.
30How could one have routed a thousand,
and two put a myriad to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
the Lord had given them up?
31Indeed their rock is not like our Rock;
our enemies are fools.#32.31 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
32Their vine comes from the vinestock of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter;
33their wine is the poison of serpents,
the cruel venom of asps.
34Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
35Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
because the day of their calamity is at hand,
their doom comes swiftly.
36Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people,
have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
neither bond nor free remaining.
37Then he will say: Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you,
let them be your protection!
39See now that I, even I, am he;
there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and no one can deliver from my hand.
40For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and swear: As I live forever,
41when I whet my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold on judgment;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and will repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired enemy.
43Praise, O heavens,#32.43 Q Ms Gk: MT nations his people,
worship him, all you gods!#32.43 Q Ms Gk: MT lacks this line
For he will avenge the blood of his children,#32.43 Q Ms Gk: MT his servants
and take vengeance on his adversaries;
he will repay those who hate him,#32.43 Q Ms Gk: MT lacks this line
and cleanse the land for his people.#32.43 Q Ms Sam Gk Vg: MT his land his people
44Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua#32.44 Sam Gk Syr Vg: MT Hoshea son of Nun. 45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: “Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses' Death Foretold
48On that very day the Lord addressed Moses as follows: 49“Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession; 50you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites. 52Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”
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Deuteronomy 32: NRSV-CI
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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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