Deuteronomy 32
1 “Listen, O heavens, to what I am saying. Let the earth hear 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 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.
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 invoke the name of the Lord. Acknowledge the magnificence of our God!
For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to 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! — perfect [is] His work, For all His ways [are] just; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright [is] He.
5 They have sinned against him, and in their filth they are not his sons. They are a depraved and perverse generation.
It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked!
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?
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 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 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 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.
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, the lot of his inheritance.
For Jehovah's portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line 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 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 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 waketh up its nest, Over its young ones fluttereth, Spreadeth its wings — taketh them, Beareth them on its pinions; —
12 The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him.
Jehovah alone doth lead him, And there is 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 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 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 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 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.
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 him with strange gods, and they stirred him to anger by their abominations.
They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him 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 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 have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you.
The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee.
19 The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him.
And Jehovah seeth and despiseth — For 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 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 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 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 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 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 evils upon them, and I will expend my arrows among them.
I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume 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.
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 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 bereave doth the sword, And at the inner-chambers — fear, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair.
26 I said: Where are they? I will cause their memory to cease from among men.
I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
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.”
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 They are a nation without counsel and without prudence.
For a nation lost to counsels [are] they, And there is no understanding in them.
29 I wish that they would be wise and understanding, and would provide for the very end.’
If they were wise — They deal wisely [with] this; They attend to 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 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 our God is not like their gods. And our enemies are judges.
For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] 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 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 gall of snakes, and it is the incurable venom of asps.
The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps.
34 ‘Have not these things been stored up with me, and sealed up amid my treasures?
Is it not laid up with Me? Sealed 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.’
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 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 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 And he shall say: ‘Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence?
And He hath said, 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 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 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 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 I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live in eternity.
For I lift up unto the heavens My hand, And have said, I live — to the age!
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 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 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 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 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.”
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 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 cometh and speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun;
45 And he completed all these words, speaking to all of Israel.
and Moses finisheth to speak all these words unto 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 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 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] 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 And the Lord spoke to Moses on the same day, saying:
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in this self-same 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.
'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 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 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 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 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 You shall see the land opposite you, which I will give to the sons of Israel, but you shall not enter into 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.'
