Deuteronomy 32
32
1“Earth and sky, hear my words,
listen closely to what I say.
2My teaching will fall like drops of rain
and form on the earth like dew.
My words will fall like showers on young plants,
like gentle rain on tender grass.
3I will praise the name of the LORD,
and his people will tell of his greatness.
4“The LORD is your mighty defender,
perfect and just in all his ways;
Your God is faithful and true;
he does what is right and fair.
5But you are unfaithful, unworthy to be his people,#32.5 Probable text But you… people; Hebrew unclear.
a sinful and deceitful nation.
6Is this the way you should treat the LORD,
you foolish, senseless people?
He is your father, your Creator,
he made you into a nation.
7“Think of the past, of the time long ago;
ask your parents to tell you what happened,
ask the old people to tell of the past.
8 #
Acts 17.26
The Most High assigned nations their lands;
he determined where peoples should live.
He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,
9but Jacob's descendants he chose for himself.
10“He found them wandering through the desert,
a desolate, windswept wilderness.
He protected them and cared for them,
as he would protect himself.
11Like an eagle teaching its young to fly,#32.11 teaching its young to fly; or watching over its young.
catching them safely on its spreading wings,
the LORD kept Israel from falling.
12The LORD alone led his people
without the help of a foreign god.
13“He let them rule the highlands,
and they ate what grew in the fields.
They found wild honey among the rocks;
their olive trees flourished in stony ground.
14Their cows and goats gave plenty of milk;
they had the best sheep, goats, and cattle,
the finest wheat, and the choicest wine.
15“The LORD's people grew rich, but rebellious;
they were fat and stuffed with food.
They abandoned God their Creator
and rejected their mighty saviour.
16Their idolatry made the LORD jealous;
the evil they did made him angry.
17 #
1 Cor 10.20
They sacrificed to gods that are not real,
new gods their ancestors had never known,
gods that Israel had never obeyed,
18They forgot their God, their mighty saviour,
the one who had given them life.
19“When the LORD saw this, he was angry
and rejected his sons and daughters.
20‘I will no longer help them,’ he said;
‘then I will see what happens to them,
those stubborn, unfaithful people.
21 #
1 Cor 10.22; Rom 10.19 With their idols they have made me angry,
jealous with their so-called gods,
gods that are really not gods.
So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry;
I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.
22My anger will flame up like fire
and burn everything on earth.
It will reach to the world below#32.22 the world below: This refers to the world of the dead.
and consume the roots of the mountains.
23“ ‘I will bring on them endless disasters
and use all my arrows against them.
24They will die from hunger and fever;
they will die from terrible diseases.
I will send wild animals to attack them,
and poisonous snakes to bite them.
25War will bring death in the streets;
terrors will strike in the homes.
Young men and young women will die;
neither babies nor old people will be spared.
26I would have destroyed them completely,
so that no one would remember them.
27But I could not let their enemies boast
that they had defeated my people,
when it was I myself who had crushed them.’
28“Israel is a nation without sense;
they have no wisdom at all.
29They fail to see why they were defeated;
they cannot understand what happened.
30Why were a thousand defeated by one,
and 10,000 by only two?
The LORD, their God, had abandoned them;
their mighty God had given them up.
31Their enemies know that their own gods are weak,
not mighty like Israel's God.
32Their enemies, corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah,
are like vines that bear bitter and poisonous grapes,
33like wine made from the venom of snakes.
34“The LORD remembers what their enemies have done;
he waits for the right time to punish them.
35 #
Rom 12.19; Heb 10.30 The LORD will take revenge and punish them;
the time will come when they will fall;
the day of their doom is near.
36 #
Ps 135.14
The LORD will rescue his people
when he sees that their strength is gone.
He will have mercy on those who serve him,
when he sees how helpless they are.
37Then the LORD will ask his people,
‘Where are those mighty gods you trusted?
38You fed them with the fat of your sacrifices
and offered them wine to drink.
Let them come and help you now;
let them run to your rescue.
39“ ‘I, and I alone, am God;
no other god is real.
I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal,
and no one can oppose what I do.
40As surely as I am the living God,
I raise my hand and I vow
41that I will sharpen my flashing sword
and see that justice is done.
I will take revenge on my enemies
and punish those who hate me.
42My arrows will drip with their blood,
and my sword will kill all who oppose me.
I will spare no one who fights against me;
even the wounded and prisoners will die.’
43 #
Rom 15.10; Rev 19.2 “Nations, you must praise the LORD's people —
he punishes all who kill them.
He takes revenge on his enemies
and forgives the sins of his people.”
44Moses and Joshua son of Nun recited this song, so that the people of Israel could hear it.
Moses' Final Instructions
45When Moses had finished giving God's teachings to the people, 46he said, “Make sure you obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all God's teachings. 47These teachings are not empty words; they are your very life. Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy.”
48 #
Num 27.12–14; Deut 3.23–27 That same day the LORD said to Moses, 49“Go to the Abarim Mountains in the land of Moab opposite the city of Jericho; climb Mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan that I am about to give the people of Israel. 50You will die on that mountain as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, 51because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonoured me in the presence of the people. 52You will look at the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land that I am giving the people of Israel.”
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Deuteronomy 32: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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