Deuteronomy 32
1 Heaven, listen as I speak; Earth, hear what I'm saying.
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching fall gently like the rain; may my words drop lightly like the dew, like soft rain on new grass, like spring showers on growing plants.
Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
3 I will praise the Lord's character. Tell everyone how great he is!
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock. Everything he does is perfect, for all his ways are right. He is the trustworthy God who is never unjust; he is fair and honest.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
5 His children have acted immorally towards him; so they are no longer his children because of their sinful stains. They are a perverse and corrupt people.
His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Is this any way to repay the Lord, you foolish, stupid people? Isn't he your Father who created you? Isn't he the one who turned you into a nation and made you strong?
Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
7 Remember the olden days; think about times long ago. God and ask your father, and he will explain them to you. Talk to your elders, and they will let you know.
Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
8 The Most High gave the nations their lands when he divided the human race; he fixed their borders depending on their gods.
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
9 But the Lord's people are his, Israel is his chosen one.
But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
10 He found you in a desert land, in a desolate wasteland of whirlwinds. He protected you; he cared for you; he looked after you as the one he loved the most.
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
11 Like an eagle watching over its nest, hovering over its chicks, he spread his wings and picked you up and carried you along.
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
12 The Lord was the only one who led you; no foreign god was with him.
The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
13 The Lord gave you the high country to rule, and fed you with the crops of the field to eat. He sustained you with honey from the rock and olive oil from the flinty crag,
He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
14 with yogurt from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, along with the best wheat. You drank the wine made from the best grapes.
with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
15 But Israel, you grew fat and rebelled—fat, overweight, and bloated with food. You abandoned the God who made you and despised the Rock of your salvation.
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 You made the Lord jealous by worshiping foreign gods; you made him angry with such disgusting practices.
They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
17 You offered sacrifices to demons instead of God, to gods you didn't know anything about, to brand-new gods that your forefathers didn't worship.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
18 You dismissed the Rock who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave birth to you.
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 The Lord rejected them when he saw this; his sons and daughters made him angry.
When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
20 He said: “I will turn away from them. Then I'll see what happens to them! They are a perverse people, unfaithful children.
He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation— children of unfaithfulness.
21 They have made me jealous by worshiping things that are not God; they have made me angry with their useless idols. So I will make them jealous using a people that aren't really a nation; I will make them angry using ignorant foreigners.
They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
22 My anger has been set on fire, burning down to the depths of the grave, destroying the earth and all it produces, even setting fire to the foundations of the mountains. (Sheol h7585)
For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains. (Sheol h7585)
23 I will pile disasters on them; I will use up my arrows shooting at them.
I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
24 They will waste away from hunger, destroyed by disease and poisonous plague. I will send wild animals to bite them with their teeth, the fangs of snakes that slide along the ground.
They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
25 Outside in the streets the sword kills their children, inside their homes, they die from fright; young men and young women, children and old people.
Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
26 I would have told them I was going to cut them to pieces and wipe out even the memory of them;
I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
27 but I didn't want to hear their conquerors jeering, their enemies misunderstanding what had happened and saying, ‘We won all by ourselves, the Lord didn't have anything to do with it.’
if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
28 Israel is a nation that doesn't think straight; none of them understand anything.
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.
29 How I wish they were wise, so they could understand it; they would recognize what was going to happen to them.
If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
30 How on earth could one man chase after a thousand, or two make ten thousand run away, unless their Rock of protection had sold them, unless the Lord had surrendered them?
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
31 The rock they rely on is not like our Rock, as even our enemies admit.
For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
32 But their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; they are bitter bunches.
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, deadly snake venom.
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
34 I've stored this all up; it's sealed in my vaults.
“Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?
35 I make sure justice is done, I will repay. The time is coming when they will fall, their day of disaster is approaching, their doom will soon arrive.”
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
36 The Lord is going to vindicate his people; he will be merciful to his servants when he sees that they have no strength left, and that everyone is gone, whether slave or free.
For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
37 He'll ask, “What happened to your gods, the rock where your went for protection?
He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 Who ate the fat of your sacrifices and drank the wine of your drink offerings? Have them come and help you; have them come and protect you!
which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!
39 Listen! I am the only God! There is no other God except me! I bring death, and I give life; I wound, and I heal. No one can be rescued from my power.
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 I hold up my hand to heaven and solemnly declare on my eternal life,
For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen my shining sword and pick it up to execute judgment, I will repay my enemies and punish those who hate me as they deserve.
when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.
42 My arrows will become drunk with blood, as my sword eats flesh; the blood of those who are killed and captured, the heads of the enemy's leaders.”
I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”
43 Celebrate with him! Let all God's angels worship him! Celebrate, foreigners, with his people; because he will pay back those who killed his children. He will punish his enemies, and repay those who hate him; he will purify his land and his people.
Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.
44 Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song for the people to hear.
Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
45 After Moses finished reciting the whole song to all the Israelites,
When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
46 he told them, “Think about all these words I've declared to you today, so you can order your children to follow carefully everything in this law.
he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
47 Don't treat these words as trivial because they are your life, and by them you will have long lives in the country that you will own after crossing the Jordan.”
For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
48 That same day the Lord told Moses,
On that same day the LORD said to Moses,
49 “Climb up into the Abarim mountains to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look over the country of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for them to own.
“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
50 There on the mountain you've climbed, you will die and join your people in death, in the same way your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined his people.
And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
51 For there at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Desert of Zin, you both were unfaithful to me. You misrepresented me to the Israelites when you didn't treat me as holy in their presence.
For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
52 Though you will see the country that I am giving the Israelites from a distance, you won't enter it.”
Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”
