< Deuteronomy 32 >
1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I speak; And you hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth!
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine drops as rain; My sayings flow as dew; As storms on the tender grass, And as showers on the herb,
Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
3 For I proclaim the Name of YHWH; Ascribe greatness to our God!
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock—His work [is] perfect, For all His ways [are] just; God of steadfastness, and without iniquity; Righteous and upright [is] He.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
5 It has done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not of His sons, A generation perverse and crooked!
His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do you act thus to YHWH, O people foolish and not wise? Is He not your Father—He who bought you? He made you, and establishes you.
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?
7 Remember days of old—Understand the years of many generations—Ask your father, and he tells you; Your elderly, and they say to you:
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.
8 In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam—He sets up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of God [[or sons of Israel]].
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.
9 For YHWH’s portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
10 He finds him in a land—a desert, And in a void—a howling wilderness, He turns him around—He causes him to understand—He keeps him as the apple of His eye.
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.
11 As an eagle wakes up its nest, Flutters over its young ones, Spreads its wings [and] takes them, Carries them on its pinions—
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.
12 YHWH alone leads him, And there is no strange god with him.
The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
13 He makes him ride on high places of earth, And he eats increase of the fields, And He makes him suck honey from a rock, And oil out of the flint of a rock;
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,
14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, and rams of sons of Bashan, And male goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; And of the blood of the grape you drink wine!
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.
15 And Yeshurun waxes fat, and kicks: You have been fat, you have been thick, You have been covered. And he leaves God who made him, And dishonors the Rock of his salvation.
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.
16 They make Him zealous with strangers, They make Him angry with abominations.
They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
17 They sacrifice to the demons, not God, To gods they have not known, New ones—they came from the vicinity; Your fathers have not feared them!
They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
18 You forget the Rock that begot you, And neglect God who forms you.
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 And YHWH sees and despises—For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
20 And He says: I hide My face from them, I see what their latter end [is]; For they [are] a contrary generation, Sons in whom is no steadfastness.
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.
21 They have made Me jealous by [what is] not God, They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them jealous by [what is] not a people, I make them angry by a foolish nation.
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.
22 For a fire has been kindled in My anger, And it burns to the lowest [part] of Sheol, And consumes earth and its increase, And sets on fire [the] foundations of mountains. (Sheol )
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 )
23 I heap calamities on them, I consume My arrows on them.
I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
24 Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat and bitter destruction—I also send the teeth of beasts on them, With poison of fearful things of the dust.
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.
25 The sword destroys from outside, And out of the inner-chambers—terror, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair.
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.
26 I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man;
I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
27 If I do not fear the anger of an enemy, Lest their adversaries know—Lest they say, Our hand is high, And YHWH has not worked all this.
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.’”
28 For they [are] a nation lost to counsels, And there is no understanding in them.
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.
29 If only they were wise, They would deal wisely [with] this, They would attend to their latter end!
If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
30 How does one pursue a thousand, And two cause a myriad to flee, If not that their Rock has sold them, And YHWH has shut them up?
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?
31 For their rock [is] not as our Rock (And our enemies [are] judges!)
For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
32 For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall—They have bitter clusters;
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
33 The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of cobras.
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
34 Is it not laid up with Me? Sealed among My treasures?
“Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?
35 Vengeance and retribution [are] Mine, At the due time—their foot slides; For near is a day of their calamity, And things prepared for them have hastened.
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.”
36 For YHWH judges His people, And gives comfort over His servants. For He sees the going away of power, And none is restrained and left.
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.
37 And He has said, Where [are] their gods—The rock in which they trusted?
He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 Who eat the fat of their sacrifices, [And] drink the wine of their drink-offering? Let them arise and help you, Let it be a hiding place for you!
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!
39 See, now, that I [am] He, And there is no god besides Me; I put to death and I keep alive; I have struck and I heal; And there is not a deliverer from My hand,
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.
40 For I lift up My hand to the heavens, And have said, I live for all time!
For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
41 If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand lays hold on judgment, I return vengeance to My adversaries, And to those hating Me—I repay!
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.
42 I make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword devours flesh, From the blood of the pierced and captive, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
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.”
43 Sing, O nations, [with] His people, For He avenges the blood of His servants, And He turns back vengeance on His adversaries, And has pardoned His land [and] His people.”
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.
44 And Moses comes and speaks all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun;
Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
45 and Moses finishes to speak all these words to all Israel,
When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
46 and says to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you today, that you command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law,
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.
47 for it [is] not a vain thing for you, for it [is] your life, and by this thing you prolong days on the ground to where you are passing over the Jordan to possess it.”
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.”
48 And YHWH speaks to Moses on this very same day, saying,
On that same day the LORD said to Moses,
49 “Go up to 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;
“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.
50 and die on the mountain to where you are going up, and be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron has died on Mount Hor and is gathered to his people;
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.
51 because you trespassed against Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the sons of Israel.
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.
52 Indeed, you see the land before [you], but you do not go in there to the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel.”
Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”