Deuteronomy 32
1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
'Give ear, O heavens, and I speak; And thou dost hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth!
2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
Drop as rain doth My doctrine; Flow as dew doth My sayings; As storms on the tender grass, And as showers on the herb,
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
The Rock! — perfect [is] His work, For all His ways [are] just; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright [is] He.
5 His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked!
6 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?
To Jehovah do ye act thus, O people foolish and not wise? Is not He thy father — thy possessor? He made thee, and doth establish thee.
7 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.
Remember days of old — Understand the years of many generations — Ask thy father, and he doth tell thee; Thine elders, and they say to thee:
8 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.
In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam — He setteth up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of Israel.
9 But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
For Jehovah's portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
10 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.
He findeth him in a land — a desert, And in a void — a howling wilderness, He turneth him round — He causeth him to understand — He keepeth him as the apple of His eye.
11 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.
As an eagle waketh up its nest, Over its young ones fluttereth, Spreadeth its wings — taketh them, Beareth them on its pinions; —
12 The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
Jehovah alone doth lead him, And there is no strange god with him.
13 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,
He maketh him ride on high places of earth, And he eateth increase of the fields, And He maketh him suck honey from a rock, And oil out of the flint of a rock;
14 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.
Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, and rams, sons of Bashan, And he-goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape thou dost drink wine!
15 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.
And Jeshurun waxeth fat, and doth kick: Thou hast been fat — thou hast been thick, Thou hast been covered. And he leaveth God who made him, And dishonoureth the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
They sacrifice to demons — no god! Gods they have not known — New ones — from the vicinity they came; Not feared them have your fathers!
18 You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee.
19 When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
And Jehovah seeth and despiseth — For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20 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.
And He saith: I hide My face from them, I see what [is] their latter end; For a froward generation [are] they, Sons in whom is no stedfastness.
21 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.
They have made Me zealous by 'no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by 'no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry.
22 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)
For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol — the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains. (Sheol h7585)
23 I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them.
24 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.
Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat, and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With poison of fearful things of the dust.
25 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.
Without bereave doth the sword, And at the inner-chambers — fear, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair.
26 I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
27 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.’”
If not — the anger of an enemy I fear, Lest their adversaries know — Lest they say, Our hand is high, And Jehovah hath not wrought all this.
28 Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.
For a nation lost to counsels [are] they, And there is no understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
If they were wise — They deal wisely [with] this; They attend to their latter end:
30 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?
How doth one pursue a thousand, And two cause a myriad to flee! If not — that their rock hath sold them, And Jehovah hath shut them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] judges!)
32 But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
For of the vine of Sodom their vine [is], And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall — They have bitter clusters;
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps.
34 “Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?
Is it not laid up with Me? Sealed among My treasures?
35 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.”
Mine [are] vengeance and recompense, At the due time — doth their foot slide; For near is a day of their calamity, And haste do things prepared for them.
36 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.
For Jehovah doth judge His people, And for His servants doth repent Himself. For He seeth — the going away of power, And none is restrained and left.
37 He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
And He hath said, Where [are] their gods — The rock in which they trusted;
38 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!
Which the fat of their sacrifices do eat, They drink the wine of their libation! Let them arise and help you, Let it be for you a hiding-place!
39 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.
See ye, now, that I — I [am] He, And there is no god with Me: I put to death, and I keep alive; I have smitten, and I heal; And there is not from My hand a deliverer,
40 For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
For I lift up unto the heavens My hand, And have said, I live — to the age!
41 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.
If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand doth lay hold on judgment, I turn back vengeance to Mine adversaries, And to those hating Me — I repay!
42 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.”
I make drunk Mine arrows with blood, And My sword devoureth flesh, From the blood of the pierced and captive, From the head of the freemen of the enemy.
43 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.
Sing ye nations — [with] his people, For the blood of His servants He avengeth, And vengeance He turneth back on His adversaries, And hath pardoned His land — His people.'
44 Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
And Moses cometh and speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun;
45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
and Moses finisheth to speak all these words unto all Israel,
46 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.
and saith unto them, 'Set your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you to-day, that ye command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law,
47 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.”
for it [is] not a vain thing for you, for it [is] your life, and by this thing ye prolong days on the ground whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it.'
48 On that same day the LORD said to Moses,
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in this self-same day, saying,
49 “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.
'Go up unto 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;
50 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.
and die in the mount whither thou art going up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother hath died in the mount Hor, and is gathered unto his people:
51 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.
'Because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin — because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons of Israel;
52 Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”
but over-against thou seest the land, and thither thou dost not go in, unto the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel.'
