Deuteronomy 32
1 “Listen, O heavens, to what I am saying. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And let the earth hear the words 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.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew; As the small rain upon the tender grass, And as the showers upon the herb:
3 For I will invoke the name of the Lord. Acknowledge the magnificence of our God!
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe ye greatness unto 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.
The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are judgment: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he.
5 They have sinned against him, and in their filth they are not his sons. They are a depraved and perverse generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked 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 requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? He hath made thee, and established 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 of many generations: Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; Thine elders, and they will 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 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 But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob, the lot of his inheritance.
For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot 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 found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his 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 that stirreth up her nest, That fluttereth over her young, He spread abroad his wings, he took them, He bare them on his pinions:
12 The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him.
The LORD alone did lead him, And there was no strange god with him.
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 made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he did eat the increase of the field; And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, And oil out of the flinty 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 kine, and milk of sheep, With fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine.
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.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek: Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him with strange gods, and they stirred him to anger by their abominations.
They moved him to jealousy with strange [gods], With abominations provoked they him to anger.
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 unto demons, [which were] no God, To gods whom they knew not, To new [gods] that came up of late, Whom your fathers dreaded not.
18 You have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you.
Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth.
19 The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him.
And the LORD saw [it], and abhorred [them], Because of the provocation of his sons and his 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 he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: For they are a very froward generation, Children 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 moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; They have provoked me to anger with their vanities: And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
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 is kindled in mine anger, And burneth unto the lowest pit, And devoureth the earth with her increase, And setteth 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 heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon 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] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust.
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 shall the sword bereave, And in the chambers terror; [It shall destroy] both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said: Where are they? I will cause their memory to cease from among men.
I said, I would scatter them afar, I would make the remembrance of them 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 that I feared the provocation of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misdeem, Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted, And the LORD hath not done all this.
28 They are a nation without counsel and without prudence.
For they are a nation void of counsel, And there is no understanding in them.
29 I wish that they would be wise and understanding, and would provide for the very end.’
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
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 chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had delivered them up?
31 For our God is not like their gods. And our enemies are judges.
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
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 of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the gall of snakes, and it is the incurable venom of asps.
Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of asps.
34 ‘Have not these things been stored up with me, and sealed up amid my treasures?
Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up 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.’
Vengeance is mine, and recompence, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.
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 repent himself for his servants; When he seeth that [their] power is gone, And there is none [remaining], shut up or left at large.
37 And he shall say: ‘Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence?
And he shall say, Where are their gods, The rock in which 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.
Which did eat 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 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.
See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I have wounded, and I heal: And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live in eternity.
For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As 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.
If I whet my glittering sword, And mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, 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 mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
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, O ye nations, [with] his people: For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for 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 came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
45 And he completed all these words, speaking to all of Israel.
And Moses made an end of speaking all these words 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 unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day; which ye shall command your children, to observe to 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 it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
48 And the Lord spoke to Moses on the same day, saying:
And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame 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.
Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
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 gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto 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 trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children 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.”
For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel.
