Deuteronomy 32
1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I speak; And you hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth!
“Listen to me, [all you who are in the] heavens, and [all you who are on the] earth, listen to what I say [MTY].
2 My doctrine drops as rain; My sayings flow as dew; As storms on the tender grass, And as showers on the herb,
I wish/desire that my teaching will fall on you like rain drops or be like dew on the ground, and be like a gentle rain on the young plants, like showers on the grass.
3 For I proclaim the Name of YHWH; Ascribe greatness to our God!
I will praise Yahweh [MTY]. And [all you people should] tell others that our God is very great.
4 The Rock—His work [is] perfect, For all His ways [are] just; God of steadfastness, and without iniquity; Righteous and upright [is] He.
He is like a rock [MET] [under which we are protected]; [everything] that he does is perfect and completely just/fair [DOU]. He always does what he says that he will do; he never does anything that is wrong.
5 It has done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not of His sons, A generation perverse and crooked!
“But [you Israeli people] have been very unfaithful to him; because of your sins, you no longer [deserve to] be his children. You are extremely wicked and deceitful [DOU].
6 Do you act thus to YHWH, O people foolish and not wise? Is He not your Father—He who bought you? He made you, and establishes you.
You foolish and senseless [DOU] people, (is this the way that you should repay Yahweh [for all that he has done for you]?/this is certainly not the way that you should repay Yahweh [for all that he has done for you].) [RHQ] He is your father; he created you [RHQ]; he caused you to become a nation.
7 Remember days of old—Understand the years of many generations—Ask your father, and he tells you; Your elderly, and they say to you:
“Think about [what happened] long ago; consider what happened to your ancestors. Ask your parents, and they will inform you; ask the older people, and they will tell you.
8 In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam—He sets up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of God [[or sons of Israel]].
When God, who is greater than any other god, long ago divided the people into groups, he assigned to the nations their land. He determined where each people-group should live and (assigned to/chose for) each people-group a god/angel.
9 For YHWH’s portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
But Yahweh decided that we would be his people; he chose [us, the descendants of] Jacob, to belong to him.
10 He finds him in a land—a desert, And in a void—a howling wilderness, He turns him around—He causes him to understand—He keeps him as the apple of His eye.
“He saw [our ancestors] when they were in a desert, wandering in a land (that was desolate/where no people lived). He protected them and took care of them, as every person takes good care of his own eyes. [SIM, IDM]
11 As an eagle wakes up its nest, Flutters over its young ones, Spreads its wings [and] takes them, Carries them on its pinions—
[Yahweh protected his people] just like an eagle encourages its babies [to fly] and flutters over them [MET], spreading its wings and catching them [if they start to fall].
12 YHWH alone leads him, And there is no strange god with him.
Yahweh was the only one who led them; no other foreign god helped him.
13 He makes him ride on high places of earth, And he eats increase of the fields, And He makes him suck honey from a rock, And oil out of the flint of a rock;
“[After they entered the land that Yahweh promised to give to them], Yahweh enabled them to rule the hilly areas; they ate the crops that grew in the fields. They found honey in the rocks, and their olive trees [MTY] grew [even] in stony ground.
14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, and rams of sons of Bashan, And male goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape you drink wine!
The cows gave them plenty of curds/yogurt, the goats gave them plenty of milk, they had well-fed sheep and cattle, they had very good wheat, and they made delicious wine from their grapes.
15 And Yeshurun waxes fat, and kicks: You have been fat, you have been thick, You have been covered. And he leaves God who made him, And dishonors the Rock of his salvation.
“The Israeli people became rich and prosperous, but then they rebelled against God; they abandoned him, the one who created them, the one who powerfully saves them.
16 They make Him zealous with strangers, They make Him angry with abominations.
So he abandoned them because they started to worship other/strange gods. Because of their worshiping disgusting idols, he became angry.
17 They sacrifice to the demons, not God, To gods they have not known, New ones—they came from the vicinity; Your fathers have not feared them!
They offered sacrifices to gods who were [really] demons, gods that their ancestors had never known; they offered sacrifices to gods that they had recently found out about, gods whom your ancestors had never revered.
18 You forget the Rock that begot you, And neglect God who forms you.
They forgot [the true] God, the one who protects them [MET], the one who created them and caused them to live.
19 And YHWH sees and despises—For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
“When Yahweh saw that [they had abandoned him], he became angry, so he rejected [the Israeli people, who are like] his sons and daughters.
20 And He says: I hide My face from them, I see what their latter end [is]; For they [are] a contrary generation, Sons in whom is no steadfastness.
He said, ‘They are very wicked/stubborn people, very unfaithful; so I will no longer help them, and then I will watch and see what happens to them.
21 They have made Me jealous by [what is] not God, They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them jealous by [what is] not a people, I make them angry by a foolish nation.
They made me very angry because of their worshiping idols, which are not really gods; they have caused me to be [jealous [MET] because I want them to worship only me]. So now, in order to cause them to become jealous, I will send [to attack them an army of] a nation of worthless and foolish people.
22 For a fire has been kindled in My anger, And it burns to the lowest [part] of Sheol, And consumes earth and its increase, And sets on fire [the] foundations of mountains. (Sheol h7585)
I will be very angry, and I will destroy them like a fire that will burn on the earth and all the way down to the place where dead people are [MET]; that fire will destroy the earth and everything that grows on it, and it will even burn what is down under the mountains. (Sheol h7585)
23 I heap calamities on them, I consume My arrows on them.
I will cause them to experience many disasters; [they will feel as though] [MET] I am shooting all my arrows at them.
24 Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat and bitter destruction—I also send the teeth of beasts on them, With poison of fearful things of the dust.
They will die because of being hungry and because of having hot fevers and because of terrible diseases; I will send wild animals to attack [MTY] them, and poisonous snakes to bite [MTY] them.
25 The sword destroys from outside, And out of the inner-chambers—terror, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair.
Outside [their houses, their enemies] will kill them [MTY] with swords, and in their homes, [their enemies will cause] them to be terrified. Their enemies will kill young men and young women, and they will kill infants and old people with gray hair.
26 I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
I wanted to scatter the Israeli people to distant countries in order that no one would ever remember them.
27 If I do not fear the anger of an enemy, Lest their adversaries know—Lest they say, Our hand is high, And YHWH has not worked all this.
But [if I did that], their enemies would wrongly boast that they were the ones who had [gotten rid of my people]; they would say, “We [SYN] are the ones who defeated them; it was not Yahweh who has done all these things.”’
28 For they [are] a nation lost to counsels, And there is no understanding in them.
You Israelis are a nation of people who do not have any sense. None of you is wise.
29 If only they were wise, They would deal wisely [with] this, They would attend to their latter end!
If you were wise, you would understand [why you would be punished]; you would have realized what was going to happen to you.
30 How does one pursue a thousand, And two cause a myriad to flee, If not that their Rock has sold them, And YHWH has shut them up?
[You would have realized] why 1,000 [of your soldiers] would be defeated by only one [of the enemy soldiers], and why two of your enemies would chase away 10,000 [Israeli soldiers]. [You would realize that this would happen] only if God, the one who always defended you [MET], had allowed your enemies to defeat you, because he had abandoned you.
31 For their rock [is] not as our Rock (And our enemies [are] judges!)
Your enemies know that their gods are not powerful like Yahweh, our God, [so their gods could not have defeated us Israelis].
32 For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall—They have bitter clusters;
Your enemies are like [MET] grapevines planted near [the ruins of] Sodom and Gomorrah [cities]; the grapes from those vines are bitter and poisonous;
33 The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of cobras.
the wine [from those grapes] is like the poison of snakes [DOU].
34 Is it not laid up with Me? Sealed among My treasures?
[“Yahweh says], ‘I know [RHQ] [what I have planned to do to the Israeli people and to their enemies], and those plans are so secure [that it as though he locked them up] [MET].
35 Vengeance and retribution [are] Mine, At the due time—their foot slides; For near is a day of their calamity, And things prepared for them have hastened.
I am the one who will get revenge and pay those enemies back for what they have done [to my people], at the right time for them to be punished [IDM]; they will soon experience disasters, and I will punish/destroy them quickly.’
36 For YHWH judges His people, And gives comfort over His servants. For He sees the going away of power, And none is restrained and left.
“But Yahweh will see that you who are truly his people, who (are innocent/have not done things that are wrong), and he will be merciful to you. And he will see that you are helpless, and that there are very few of you, slaves or free people, who are still alive.
37 And He has said, Where [are] their gods—The rock in which they trusted?
Then Yahweh will ask his people, ‘Where are the gods that you thought would protect you [MET]?
38 Who eat the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drink the wine of their drink-offering? Let them arise and help you, Let it be a hiding place for you!
You gave to those gods the best parts of the animals that you sacrificed, and you poured out wine for them to drink. So, they should begin to help you; they should be the ones who will protect you!
39 See, now, that I [am] He, And there is no god besides Me; I put to death and I keep alive; I have struck and I heal; And there is not a deliverer from My hand,
“But now you will realize that I, only I, am God; there is no other god who is [a real] god. I am the one who can kill people and who can cause people to live; I can wound people, and I can heal people, and there is no one who can prevent me from doing those things.
40 For I lift up My hand to the heavens, And have said, I live for all time!
I raise my hand toward heaven and solemnly declare that just as sure as I live forever,
41 If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand lays hold on judgment, I return vengeance to My adversaries, And to those hating Me—I repay!
that when I sharpen my sword, as I [SYN] prepare to punish people, I will get revenge on my enemies; I will pay back those who hate me.
42 I make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword devours flesh, From the blood of the pierced and captive, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
I will kill all [of my enemies] with a sword; it will be as though I had arrows that will be covered with their blood. I will kill [MTY] all those whom I capture and cut off their leaders’ heads.’
43 Sing, O nations, [with] His people, For He avenges the blood of His servants, And He turns back vengeance on His adversaries, And has pardoned His land [and] His people.”
“You people of all nations, you as well as his people should praise Yahweh, because Yahweh gets revenge on those who kill the people who serve him; and he cleanses his people’s land which has become defiled because of their sins.”
44 And Moses comes and speaks all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun;
Joshua and Moses/I recited the words of that song while the Israeli people were listening.
45 and Moses finishes to speak all these words to all Israel,
When they/we finished reciting to the Israeli people the words of this song,
46 and says to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you today, that you command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law,
Moses/I said, “Never forget all these commands that I have been giving you today. Teach these laws to your children, in order that they will faithfully obey all of them.
47 for it [is] not a vain thing for you, for it [is] your life, and by this thing you prolong days on the ground to where you are passing over the Jordan to possess it.”
These instructions are very important [LIT]. If [you obey] them, you will live a long time in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan [River] to occupy.”
48 And YHWH speaks to Moses on this very same day, saying,
On that same day, Yahweh said to Moses/me,
49 “Go up to this Mount Abarim, Mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, which [is] on the front of Jericho, and see the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession;
“Go to the Abarim Mountain range [here] in the Moab region, across from Jericho. Climb Nebo Mountain, and look [toward the west] to see Canaan land, the land that I am about to give to the Israeli people.
50 and die on the mountain to where you are going up, and be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron has died on Mount Hor and is gathered to his people;
You will die on that mountain [EUP, DOU], like your [older] brother Aaron died on Hor Mountain.
51 because you trespassed against Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the sons of Israel.
You will die because both of you disobeyed me in the presence of the Israeli people, when you all were at Meribah Springs near Kadesh [town] in the Zin Desert. You did not honor and respect me in the presence of the Israeli people in the way that I deserve because I am God.
52 Indeed, you see the land before [you], but you do not go in there to the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel.”
[When you are on that mountain where I told you to go], you will see in the distance in front of you the land that I am about to give to the Israeli people, but you will not enter it.”
