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
1#The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel (vv. 1–14) and Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the nations; these sins will be punished by the nations themselves (vv. 15–29); in turn, the foolish pride of the nations will be punished, and the Lord’s honor will be vindicated (vv. 30–43). Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth!#Dt 4:26; 30:19; 31:28.
2May my teaching soak in like the rain,
and my utterance drench like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
like a shower upon the crops.
3For I will proclaim the name of the Lord,
praise the greatness of our God!
4The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he!#Dt 7:9; 32:15, 18, 30–31; 2 Sm 22:3; Ps 18:2, 31, 46; 92:15; Is 17:10; Hb 1:12; Rev 15:3.
5Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
a twisted and crooked generation!#Dt 9:12; 14:1; 31:29; Ps 78:8; Is 1:2–4; Lk 9:41.
6Is this how you repay the Lord,
so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
the one who made and established you?#Ex 4:22–23; Is 63:16; 64:8; Jer 31:9; Hos 11:1–4.
7Remember the days of old,
consider the years of generations past.
Ask your father, he will inform you,
your elders, they will tell you:#Dt 4:32–34.
8When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
when he separated out human beings,#Gn 14:18–22; Nm 24:16; Jb 1:6; 2:1; Ps 29:1; 47:2; 82:6; 83:18; 89:5–7; Is 14:14; Acts 17:26.
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the divine beings;#Divine beings: lit., “sons of God” (see also v. 43); members of the divine assembly; cf. 1 Kgs 22:19; Jb 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 82; 89:6–7. The nations are portrayed as having their respective tutelary deities.
9But the Lord’s portion was his people;
his allotted share was Jacob.#Dt 7:6; Ex 19:5–6; Ps 33:12; Sir 17:17; Jer 10:16; Zec 2:16.
10He found them in a wilderness,
a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them, cared for them,
guarded them as the apple of his eye.#Dt 1:31; 2:7; 8:15; Ps 17:8; Prv 7:2; Jer 2:2–3, 6; Hos 2:15; 13:5–6; Zec 2:12.
11As an eagle incites its nestlings,
hovering over its young,
So he spread his wings, took them,
bore them upon his pinions.#Ex 19:4.
12The Lord alone guided them,
no foreign god was with them.#Ex 15:13; Is 43:12; Hos 13:4.
13#Dt 8:7–10; Ps 81:16. He had them mount the summits of the land,#The land: Canaan.
fed them the produce of its fields;
He suckled them with honey from the crags
and olive oil from the flinty rock;
14Butter from cows and milk from sheep,
with the best of lambs;
Bashan#Bashan: a fertile grazing land east of the Jordan, famous for its sleek, strong cattle. Cf. Ps 22:13; Ez 39:18; Am 4:1. bulls and goats,
with the cream of finest wheat;
and the foaming blood of grapes you drank.
15So Jacob ate and was satisfied,
Jeshurun#Jeshurun: a term for Israel from yashar, meaning “upright”; its use here is possibly ironic. grew fat and kicked;
you became fat and gross and gorged.
They forsook the God who made them
and scorned the Rock of their salvation.#Dt 8:12–18; 31:20; 33:5, 26; Neh 9:25; Is 44:2.
16With strange gods they incited him,
with abominations provoked him to anger.#Dt 31:16; Ps 78:58; 81:9; 106:34–39.
17They sacrificed to demons, to “no-gods,”
to gods they had never known,
Newcomers from afar,
before whom your ancestors had never trembled.
18You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
you forgot the God who gave you birth.#Is 49:15; Jer 2:32.
19The Lord saw and was filled with loathing,
provoked by his sons and daughters.#Dt 4:24.
20He said, I will hide my face from them,
and see what becomes of them.
For they are a fickle generation,
children with no loyalty in them!#Dt 31:17–18; Nm 6:25–26.
21Since they have incited me with a “no-god,”
and provoked me with their empty idols,
I will incite them with a “no-people”;#“No-god”…“no-people”: worship of the gods of the nations brings destruction at the hands of a foreign invader. A false god cannot sustain or protect (cf. Jer 14:22); and though the nations seem “foolish” (see their characterization in such passages as Ps 114:1; Is 28:11; 33:19), they will prove to be anything but nonentities when the Lord stirs them up against Israel (Is 9:10–12). For the “no-” or “not-” construction, see Hos 1:6, 9; 2:1, 25.
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.#Dt 28:49–50; Jgs 2:14–15; Is 9:11–12; Rom 10:19.
22For by my wrath a fire is kindled
that has raged to the depths of Sheol,
It has consumed the earth with its yield,
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.#Dt 4:24; Ps 18:7–8; 50:3; Lam 4:11.
23I will heap evils upon them
and exhaust all my arrows against them:#Dt 32:42; Ps 7:12–13; 18:14; Ez 5:16.
24Emaciating hunger and consuming fever
and bitter pestilence,
And the teeth of wild beasts I will send among them,
with the venom of reptiles gliding in the dust.#Dt 28:21–22.
25Out in the street the sword shall bereave,
and at home the terror
For the young man and the young woman alike,
the nursing babe as well as the gray beard.#Lv 26:25; Jer 6:11; Lam 1:20; 2:21; Ez 7:15.
26I said: I will make an end of them
and blot out their name from human memory,
27Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
that their foes might misunderstand,
And say, “Our own hand won the victory;
the Lord had nothing to do with any of it.”#Dt 9:26–29; Ex 32:11–14; Ps 74:18.
28For they are a nation devoid of reason,#The reference is to the nations, not to Israel.
having no understanding.
29If they had insight they would realize this,
they would understand their end:
30“How could one rout a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless it was because their Rock sold them,
the Lord delivered them up?”
31Indeed, their “rock” is not like our Rock;
our enemies are fools.
32For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
and their clusters are bitter.#Dt 29:23.
33Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the cruel poison of vipers.
34Is not this stored up with me,
sealed up in my storehouses?
35Vengeance is mine and recompense,
for the time they lose their footing;
Because the day of their disaster is at hand
and their doom is rushing upon them!#Ps 94:1; Is 59:18; 61:2; Hos 9:7.
36Surely, the Lord will do justice for his people;
on his servants he will have pity.
When he sees their strength is gone,
and neither bond nor free#Neither bond nor free: an all-inclusive expression; cf. 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 9:8. is left,#2 Mc 7:6; Ps 9:8; 135:14.
37He will say, Where are their gods,#Jgs 10:14; 1 Kgs 18:27; Jer 2:28.
the rock in whom they took refuge,
38Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up now and help you!
Let them be your protection!
39See now that I, I alone, am he,
and there is no god besides me.
It is I who bring both death and life,
I who inflict wounds and heal them,
and from my hand no one can deliver.#Dt 4:35; 6:4; 1 Sm 2:6–8; Tb 13:2; Jb 5:18; Wis 16:13; Is 30:26; 43:10–13; 44:6; Hos 6:1–2.
40For I raise my hand to the heavens
and will say: As surely as I live forever,
41When I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand lays hold of judgment,
With vengeance I will repay my foes
and requite those who hate me.#Is 1:24; Na 1:2.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
With the blood of the slain and the captured,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.
43Exult with him, you heavens,
bow to him, all you divine beings!
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
take vengeance on his foes;
He will requite those who hate him,
and purge his people’s land.#Dt 32:1, 8; Is 49:13.
44So Moses, together with Hoshea,#Hoshea: a variant of “Joshua.” Cf. note on Nm 13:16. son of Nun, went and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.#Dt 31:14–15, 23.
Final Appeal. 45When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them,#Dt 4:9. Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today, words you should command your children, that they may observe carefully every word of this law. 47For this is no trivial matter for you, but rather your very life; by this word you will enjoy a long life on the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.#Dt 4:40; 6:1–2.
Moses Looks upon Canaan. 48On that very day the Lord said to Moses, 49Ascend this mountain of the Abarim,#Abarim: probably the mountain range to the east of the Dead Sea. Mount Nebo in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.#Dt 34:1; Nm 27:12. 50Then you shall die on the mountain you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor#Mount Hor: on the western border of Seir or Edom; cf. Nm 20:23–28; 33:37–38. Dt 10:6 locates elsewhere the place of Aaron’s death. and there was gathered to his people,#Dt 10:6; Nm 20:23–29; 27:13; 33:38–39. 51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin: you did not manifest my holiness among the Israelites.#Cf. note on 3:26. #Ex 17:1–7; Nm 20:1–13; 27:14; Ps 106:32–33. 52You may indeed see the land from a distance, but you shall not enter that land which I am giving to the Israelites.#Dt 3:27; 34:4.
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