Deuteronomy 32
1 “Listen, O heavens, to what I am saying. Let the earth hear the words 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 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.
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 will invoke the name of the Lord. Acknowledge the magnificence of our God!
I will praise Yahweh [MTY]. And [all you people should] tell others that our God is very great.
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.
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 They have sinned against him, and in their filth they are not his sons. They are a depraved and perverse generation.
“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 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?
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 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.
“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 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 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 But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob, the lot 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 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 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 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.
[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 The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him.
Yahweh was the only one who led them; no other foreign god helped 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,
“[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 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.
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 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.
“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 provoked him with strange gods, and they stirred him to anger by their abominations.
So he abandoned them because they started to worship other/strange gods. Because of their worshiping disgusting idols, he became angry.
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 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 have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you.
They forgot [the true] God, the one who protects them [MET], the one who created them and caused them to live.
19 The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him.
“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 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.
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 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 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 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)
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 will heap evils upon them, and I will expend my arrows among them.
I will cause them to experience many disasters; [they will feel as though] [MET] I am shooting all my arrows at 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 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 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.
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 said: Where are they? I will cause their memory to cease from among men.
I wanted to scatter the Israeli people to distant countries in order that no one would ever remember them.
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.”
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 They are a nation without counsel and without prudence.
You Israelis are a nation of people who do not have any sense. None of you is wise.
29 I wish that they would be wise and understanding, and would provide for the very 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 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?
[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 our God is not like their gods. 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 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.
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 Their wine is the gall of snakes, and it is the incurable venom of asps.
the wine [from those grapes] is like the poison of snakes [DOU].
34 ‘Have not these things been stored up with me, and sealed up amid 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 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.’
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 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.
“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 shall say: ‘Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence?
Then Yahweh will ask his people, ‘Where are the gods that you thought would protect you [MET]?
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.
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 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.
“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 I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live in eternity.
I raise my hand toward heaven and solemnly declare that just as sure as I live forever,
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.
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 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 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 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.”
“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 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.
Joshua and Moses/I recited the words of that song while the Israeli people were listening.
45 And he completed all these words, speaking to all of Israel.
When they/we finished reciting to the Israeli people the words of this song,
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.
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 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.”
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 the Lord spoke to Moses on the same day, saying:
On that same day, Yahweh said to Moses/me,
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.
“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 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.
You will die on that mountain [EUP, DOU], like your [older] brother Aaron died on Hor Mountain.
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.
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 You shall see the land opposite you, which I will give to the sons of Israel, but you shall not enter into it.”
[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.”
