Deuteronomy 32
1 Give ear, O heavens, to my voice; let the earth take note of the words of my mouth:
Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:
My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.
3 For I will give honour to the name of the Lord: let our God be named great.
For I will proclaim the LORD’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he.
The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
5 They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.
Is this the way you repay the LORD, foolish and unwise people? Is not he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
7 Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story.
Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel.
When 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.
9 For the Lord's wealth is his people; Jacob is the land of his heritage.
For the LORD’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He came to him in the waste land, in the unpeopled waste of sand: putting his arms round him and caring for him, he kept him as the light of his eye.
He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers:
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.
12 So the Lord only was his guide, no other god was with him.
The LORD alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
13 He put him on the high places of the earth, his food was the increase of the field; honey he gave him out of the rock and oil out of the hard rock;
He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter from his cows and milk from his sheep, with fat of lambs and sheep of Bashan, and goats, and the heart of the grain; and for your drink, wine from the blood of the grape.
butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.
15 But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
16 The honour which was his they gave to strange gods; by their disgusting ways he was moved to wrath.
They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
17 They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers.
They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they did not know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers did not dread.
18 You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth.
Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
19 And the Lord saw with disgust the evil-doing of his sons and daughters.
The LORD saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith.
He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have given my honour to that which is not God, moving me to wrath with their false worship: I will give their honour to those who are not a people, moving them to wrath by a foolish nation,
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For my wrath is a flaming fire, burning to the deep parts of the underworld, burning up the earth with her increase, and firing the deep roots of the mountains. (Sheol h7585)
For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol (Sheol h7585), devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
23 I will send a rain of troubles on them, my arrows will be showered on them.
“I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
24 They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.
They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
25 Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man.
Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
26 I said I would send them wandering far away, I would make all memory of them go from the minds of men:
I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
27 But for the fear that their haters, uplifted in their pride, might say, Our hand is strong, the Lord has not done all this.
were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted; the LORD has not done all this.’”
28 For they are a nation without wisdom; there is no sense in them.
For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future!
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How would it be possible for one to overcome a thousand, and two to send ten thousand in flight, if their rock had not let them go, if the Lord had not given them up?
How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had delivered them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our haters themselves being judges.
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
32 For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter:
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel poison of snakes.
Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this among my secrets, kept safe in my store-house?
“Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
35 Punishment is mine and reward, at the time of the slipping of their feet: for the day of their downfall is near, sudden will be their fate.
Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
36 For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free.
For the LORD will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
37 And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith?
He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation.
which ate 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.
39 See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand.
“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
40 For lifting up my hand to heaven I say, By my unending life,
For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,
41 If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters.
if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
43 Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.
Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
44 So Moses said all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea, the son of Nun.
Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.
45 And after saying all this to the people,
Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel.
46 Moses said to them, Let the words which I have said to you today go deep into your hearts, and give orders to your children to do every word of this law.
He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 And this is no small thing for you, but it is your life, and through this you may make your days long in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.
For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
48 That same day the Lord said to Moses,
The LORD spoke to Moses that same day, saying,
49 Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage:
“Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession.
50 And let death come to you on the mountain where you are going, and be put to rest with your people; as death came to Aaron, your brother, on Mount Hor, where he was put to rest with his people:
Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;
51 Because of your sin against me before the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh in the waste land of Zin; because you did not keep my name holy among the children of Israel.
because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not uphold my holiness among the children of Israel.
52 So you will see the land before you, but you will not go into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.
For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.”
