Deuteronomy 32
1 Heaven, listen as I speak; Earth, hear what I'm saying.
'Give ear, O heavens, and I speak; And thou dost hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth!
2 May my teaching fall gently like the rain; may my words drop lightly like the dew, like soft rain on new grass, like spring showers on growing 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 I will praise the Lord's character. Tell everyone how great he is!
For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock. Everything he does is perfect, for all his ways are right. He is the trustworthy God who is never unjust; he is fair and honest.
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 children have acted immorally towards him; so they are no longer his children because of their sinful stains. They are a perverse and corrupt people.
It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked!
6 Is this any way to repay the Lord, you foolish, stupid people? Isn't he your Father who created you? Isn't he the one who turned you into a nation and made you strong?
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 olden days; think about times long ago. God and ask your father, and he will explain them to you. Talk to your elders, and they will let you know.
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 The Most High gave the nations their lands when he divided the human race; he fixed their borders depending on their gods.
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 people are his, Israel is his chosen one.
For Jehovah's portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
10 He found you in a desert land, in a desolate wasteland of whirlwinds. He protected you; he cared for you; he looked after you as the one he loved the most.
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 Like an eagle watching over its nest, hovering over its chicks, he spread his wings and picked you up and carried you along.
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 was the only one who led you; no foreign god was with him.
Jehovah alone doth lead him, And there is no strange god with him.
13 The Lord gave you the high country to rule, and fed you with the crops of the field to eat. He sustained you with honey from the rock and olive 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 yogurt from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, along with the best wheat. You drank the wine made from the best grapes.
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 Israel, you grew fat and rebelled—fat, overweight, and bloated with food. You abandoned the God who made you and despised the Rock of your 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 You made the Lord jealous by worshiping foreign gods; you made him angry with such disgusting practices.
They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry.
17 You offered sacrifices to demons instead of God, to gods you didn't know anything about, to brand-new gods that your forefathers didn't 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 dismissed the Rock who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave birth to you.
The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee.
19 The Lord rejected them when he saw this; his sons and daughters made him angry.
And Jehovah seeth and despiseth — For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20 He said: “I will turn away from them. Then I'll see what happens to them! They are a perverse people, unfaithful children.
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 made me jealous by worshiping things that are not God; they have made me angry with their useless idols. So I will make them jealous using a people that aren't really a nation; I will make them angry using ignorant foreigners.
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 My anger has been set on fire, burning down to the depths of the grave, destroying the earth and all it produces, even setting fire to 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 pile disasters on them; I will use up my arrows shooting at them.
I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them.
24 They will waste away from hunger, destroyed by disease and poisonous plague. I will send wild animals to bite them with their teeth, the fangs of snakes that slide along the ground.
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 in the streets the sword kills their children, inside their homes, they die from fright; young men and young women, children and old people.
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 told them I was going to cut them to pieces and wipe out even the memory of them;
I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
27 but I didn't want to hear their conquerors jeering, their enemies misunderstanding what had happened and saying, ‘We won all by ourselves, the Lord didn't have anything to do with it.’
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 that doesn't think straight; none of them understand anything.
For a nation lost to counsels [are] they, And there is no understanding in them.
29 How I wish they were wise, so they could understand it; they would recognize what was going to happen to them.
If they were wise — They deal wisely [with] this; They attend to their latter end:
30 How on earth could one man chase after a thousand, or two make ten thousand run away, unless their Rock of protection had sold them, unless the Lord had surrendered 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 The rock they rely on is not like our Rock, as even our enemies admit.
For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] judges!)
32 But their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; they are bitter bunches.
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 poison of serpents, deadly snake venom.
The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps.
34 I've stored this all up; it's sealed in my vaults.
Is it not laid up with Me? Sealed among My treasures?
35 I make sure justice is done, I will repay. The time is coming when they will fall, their day of disaster is approaching, their doom will soon arrive.”
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 is going to vindicate his people; he will be merciful to his servants when he sees that they have no strength left, and that everyone is gone, whether 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'll ask, “What happened to your gods, the rock where your went for protection?
And He hath said, Where [are] their gods — The rock in which they trusted;
38 Who ate the fat of your sacrifices and drank the wine of your drink offerings? Have them come and help you; have them come and protect you!
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 Listen! I am the only God! There is no other God except me! I bring death, and I give life; I wound, and I heal. No one can be rescued from my power.
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 hold up my hand to heaven and solemnly declare on my eternal life,
For I lift up unto the heavens My hand, And have said, I live — to the age!
41 when I sharpen my shining sword and pick it up to execute judgment, I will repay my enemies and punish those who hate me as they deserve.
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 My arrows will become drunk with blood, as my sword eats flesh; the blood of those who are killed and captured, the heads of the enemy's 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 Celebrate with him! Let all God's angels worship him! Celebrate, foreigners, with his people; because he will pay back those who killed his children. He will punish his enemies, and repay those who hate him; he will purify 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 for the people to hear.
And Moses cometh and speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun;
45 After Moses finished reciting the whole song to all the Israelites,
and Moses finisheth to speak all these words unto all Israel,
46 he told them, “Think about all these words I've declared to you today, so you can order your children to follow carefully everything 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 Don't treat these words as trivial because they are your life, and by them you will have long lives in the country that you will own after crossing the Jordan.”
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 That same day the Lord told Moses,
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in this self-same day, saying,
49 “Climb up into the Abarim mountains to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look over the country of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for them to own.
'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 There on the mountain you've climbed, you will die and join your people in death, in the same way your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined 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 there at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Desert of Zin, you both were unfaithful to me. You misrepresented me to the Israelites when you didn't 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 Though you will see the country that I am giving the Israelites from a distance, you won't 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.'
