Deuteronomy 32

1 “Listen, O heavens, to what I am saying. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words out of my mouth.

2 Let my doctrine accumulate like the rain. Let my eloquence form like the dew, like a mist upon the plants, and like water droplets upon the grass.

Let my speech be looked for as the rain, and my words come down as dew, as the shower upon the herbage, and as snow upon the grass.

3 For I will invoke the name of the Lord. Acknowledge the magnificence of our God!

For I have called on the name of the Lord: assign ye greatness to our God.

4 The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments. God is faithful and without any iniquity. He is just and upright.

[As for God], his works [are] true, and all his ways [are] judgment: God [is] faithful, and there is no unrighteousness [in him]; just and holy [is] the Lord.

5 They have sinned against him, and in their filth they are not his sons. They are a depraved and perverse generation.

They have sinned, not [pleasing] him; spotted children, a froward and perverse generation.

6 How can this be the return you would offer to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is he himself not your Father, who has possessed you, and made you, and created you?

Do ye thus recompense the Lord? [is the] people thus foolish and unwise? did not he himself thy father purchase thee, and make thee, and form thee?

7 Remember the days of antiquity. Consider each generation. Question your father, and he will declare it to you. Question your elders, and they will tell it to you.

Remember the days of old, consider the years for past ages: ask thy father, and he shall relate to thee, thine elders, and they shall tell thee.

8 When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the limits of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.

9 But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob, the lot of his inheritance.

And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of his inheritance.

10 He discovered him in a desert land, in a place of horror and a vast wilderness. He led him around and taught him, and he guarded him like the pupil of his eye,

He maintained him in the wilderness, in burning thirst and a dry land: he led him about and instructed him, and kept him as the apple of an eye.

11 just as an eagle encourages its young to fly, and, flying above them, stretches out its wings, and takes them up, and carries them on its shoulders.

As an eagle would watch over his brood, and yearns over his young, receives them having spread his wings, and takes them up on his back:

12 The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him.

the Lord alone led them, there was no strange god with them.

13 He stood him upon an exalted land, so that he might eat the fruits of the fields, so that he might eat honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest stone,

He brought them up on the strength of the land; he fed them with the fruits of the fields; they sucked honey out of the rock, and oil out of the solid rock.

14 butter from the herd, and milk from the sheep, with fat from the lambs, and with rams and goats from the sons of Bashan, with the kernel of the wheat, and so that he might drink the undiluted blood of the grape.

Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of calves and kids, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and he drank wine, the blood of the grape.

15 The beloved grew fat, and he kicked. Having grown fat and thick and wide, he abandoned God, his Maker, and he withdrew from God, his Savior.

So Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat, he became thick and broad: then he forsook the God that made him, and departed from God his Saviour.

16 They provoked him with strange gods, and they stirred him to anger by their abominations.

They provoked me to anger with strange gods; with their abominations they bitterly angered me.

17 They immolated to demons and not to God, to gods whom they did not know, who were new and recent arrivals, whom their fathers did not worship.

They sacrificed to devils, and not to God; to gods whom they knew not: new and fresh [gods] came in, whom their fathers knew not.

18 You have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you.

Thou hast forsaken God that begot thee, and forgotten God who feeds thee.

19 The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him.

And the Lord saw, and was jealous; and was provoked by the anger of his sons and daughters,

20 And he said: ‘I will hide my face from them, and I will consider their very end. For this is a perverse generation, and they are unfaithful sons.

and said, I will turn away my face from them, and will show what shall happen to them in the last days; for it is a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faith.

21 They have provoked me with that which was not God, and they have angered me with their emptiness. And so, I will provoke them with that which is not a people, and I will anger them with a foolish nation.

They have provoked me to jealousy with [that which is] not God, they have exasperated me with their idols; and I will provoke them to jealousy with them that are no nation, I will anger them with a nation void of understanding.

22 A fire has been kindled in my fury, and it will burn even to the deepest Hell, and it will devour the earth with its produce, and it will burn the foundations of the mountains. (Sheol h7585)

For a fire has been kindled out of my wrath, it shall burn to hell below; it shall devour the land, and the fruits of it; it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Sheol h7585)

23 I will heap evils upon them, and I will expend my arrows among them.

I will gather evils upon them, and will fight with my weapons against them.

24 They will be consumed by famine, and birds with a very bitter bite will devour them. I will send forth the teeth of wild beasts among them, along with the fury of creatures that scurry across the ground, and of serpents.

[They shall be] consumed with hunger and the devouring of birds, and there shall be irremediable destruction: I will send forth against them the teeth of wild beasts, with the rage of [serpents] creeping on the ground.

25 Outside, the sword will devastate them; and inside, there will be dread, as much for the young man as for the maiden, and as much for the newborn as for the old man.

Without, the sword shall bereave them of children, and terror [shall issue] out of the secret chambers; the young man shall perish with the virgin, the suckling with him who has grown old.

26 I said: Where are they? I will cause their memory to cease from among men.

I said, I will scatter them, and I will cause their memorial to cease from among men.

27 But because of the wrath of the enemies, I have delayed it. Otherwise, perhaps their enemies would be arrogant and would say: “Our exalted hand, and not the Lord, has done all these things.”

Were it not for the wrath of the enemy, lest they should live long, lest their enemies should combine against them; lest they should say, Our own high arm, and not the Lord, has done all these things.

28 They are a nation without counsel and without prudence.

It is a nation that has lost counsel, neither is there understanding in them.

29 I wish that they would be wise and understanding, and would provide for the very end.’

They had not sense to understand: let them reserve these things against the time to come.

30 How is it that one pursues a thousand, and two chases ten thousand? Is it not because their God has sold them, and because the Lord has enclosed them?

How should one pursue a thousand, and two rout tens of thousands, if God had not sold them, and the Lord delivered them up?

31 For our God is not like their gods. And our enemies are judges.

For their gods are not as our God, but our enemies [are] void of understanding.

32 Their vines are of the vines of Sodom, but from the suburbs of Gomorrah. Their grapes are the grapes of gall, and their grape clusters are most bitter.

For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, and their vine-branch of Gomorrha: their grape [is] a grape of gall, their cluster [is] one of bitterness.

33 Their wine is the gall of snakes, and it is the incurable venom of asps.

Their wine [is] the rage of serpents, and the incurable rage of asps.

34 ‘Have not these things been stored up with me, and sealed up amid my treasures?

Lo! are not these things stored up by me, and sealed among my treasures?

35 Vengeance is mine, and I will repay them in due time, so that their foot may slip and fall. The day of perdition is near, and the time rushes to appear.’

In the day of vengeance I will recompense, whensoever their foot shall be tripped up; for the day of their destruction [is] near to them, and the judgments at hand are close upon you.

36 The Lord will judge his people, and he will take pity on his servants. He will see that their hand has been weakened, and that those who have been enclosed have likewise failed, and that those who have been left behind have been consumed.

For the Lord shall judge his people, and shall be comforted over his servants; for he saw that they were utterly weakened, and failed in the hostile invasion, and were become feeble:

37 And he shall say: ‘Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence?

and the Lord said, Where are their gods on whom they trusted?

38 They ate the fat of their victims, and they drank the wine of their libations. So let these rise up, and bring relief to you, and protect you in your distress.

the fat of whose sacrifices ye ate, and ye drank the wine of their drink-offerings? let them arise and help you, and be your protectors.

39 See that I am alone, and there is no other god beside me. I will kill, and I will cause to live. I will strike, and I will heal. And there is no one who is able to rescue from my hand.

Behold, behold that I am [he], and there is no god beside me: I kill, and I will make to live: I will smite, and I will heal; and there is none who shall deliver out of my hands.

40 I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live in eternity.

For I will lift up my hand to heaven, and swear by my right hand, and I will say, I live for ever.

41 When I sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand takes hold of judgment, then I will render vengeance to my enemies, and I will repay those who hate me.

For I will sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render judgment to my enemies, and will recompense them that hate me.

42 I will inebriate my arrows with blood, and my sword will devour flesh: from the blood of the slain and from the captive, from the exposed head of the enemies.’

I will make my weapons drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, [it shall glut itself] with the blood of the wounded, and from the captivity of the heads of [their] enemies that rule over them.

43 You nations, praise his people! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. And he will distribute vengeance to their enemies. And he will be merciful to the land of his people.”

Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people.

44 Therefore, Moses went and spoke all the words of this canticle to the ears of the people, both he and Joshua, the son of Nun.

And Moses wrote this song in that day, and taught it to the children of Israel; and Moses went in and spoke all the words of this law in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the [son] of Naue.

45 And he completed all these words, speaking to all of Israel.

And Moses finished speaking to all Israel.

46 And he said to them: “Set your hearts upon all the words which I am testifying to you this day. So shall you command your sons, to keep, and to do, and to fulfill all the things that have been written in this law.

And he said to them, Take heed with your heart to all these words, which I testify to you this day, which ye shall command your sons, to observe and do all the words of this law.

47 For these things have not been entrusted to you to no purpose, but so that each one would live by them, and so that, in doing these, you may continue for a long time in the land, which you will enter upon crossing the Jordan in order to possess it.”

For this [is] no vain word to you; for it [is] your life, and because of this word ye shall live long upon the land, into which ye go over Jordan to inherit it.

48 And the Lord spoke to Moses on the same day, saying:

And the Lord spoke to Moses in this day, saying,

49 “Ascend this mountain, Abarim, (that is, of crossings) onto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look upon the land of Canaan, which I will deliver to the sons of Israel to obtain it. And you shall die upon the mountain.

Go up to the mount Abarim, this mountain Nabau which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho, and behold the land of Chanaan, which I give to the sons of Israel:

50 After climbing it, you will be joined to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, and was placed with his people.

and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be added to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Or, and was added to his people.

51 For you trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel, at the Waters of Contradiction, in Kadesh, in the desert of Sin. And you did not sanctify me among the sons of Israel.

Because ye disobeyed my word among the children of Israel, at the waters of strife of Cades in the wilderness of Sin; because ye sanctified me not among the sons of Israel.

52 You shall see the land opposite you, which I will give to the sons of Israel, but you shall not enter into it.”

Thou shalt see the land before [thee], but thou shalt not enter into it.