דברים 32

1 האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי

“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 יערף כמטר לקחי תזל כטל אמרתי כשעירם עלי דשא וכרביבים עלי עשב

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 כי שם יהוה אקרא הבו גדל לאלהינו

I will praise Yahweh [MTY]. And [all you people should] tell others that our God is very great.

4 הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט אל אמונה ואין עול צדיק וישר הוא

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 שחת לו לא בניו מומם דור עקש ופתלתל

“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 ה ליהוה תגמלו זאת-- עם נבל ולא חכם הלוא הוא אביך קנך הוא עשך ויכננך

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 זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דר ודר שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך

“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 בהנחל עליון גוים בהפרידו בני אדם יצב גבלת עמים למספר בני ישראל

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 כי חלק יהוה עמו יעקב חבל נחלתו

But Yahweh decided that we would be his people; he chose [us, the descendants of] Jacob, to belong to him.

10 ימצאהו בארץ מדבר ובתהו ילל ישמן יסבבנהו יבוננהו-- יצרנהו כאישון עינו

“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 כנשר יעיר קנו על גוזליו ירחף יפרש כנפיו יקחהו ישאהו על אברתו

[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 יהוה בדד ינחנו ואין עמו אל נכר

Yahweh was the only one who led them; no other foreign god helped him.

13 ירכבהו על במותי (במתי) ארץ ויאכל תנובת שדי וינקהו דבש מסלע ושמן מחלמיש צור

“[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 חמאת בקר וחלב צאן עם חלב כרים ואילים בני בשן ועתודים עם חלב כליות חטה ודם ענב תשתה חמר

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 וישמן ישרון ויבעט שמנת עבית כשית ויטש אלוה עשהו וינבל צור ישעתו

“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 יקנאהו בזרים בתועבת יכעיסהו

So he abandoned them because they started to worship other/strange gods. Because of their worshiping disgusting idols, he became angry.

17 יזבחו לשדים לא אלה-- אלהים לא ידעום חדשים מקרב באו לא שערום אבתיכם

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 צור ילדך תשי ותשכח אל מחללך

They forgot [the true] God, the one who protects them [MET], the one who created them and caused them to live.

19 וירא יהוה וינאץ מכעס בניו ובנתיו

“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 ויאמר אסתירה פני מהם-- אראה מה אחריתם כי דור תהפכת המה בנים לא אמן בם

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 הם קנאוני בלא אל כעסוני בהבליהם ואני אקניאם בלא עם בגוי נבל אכעיסם

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 כי אש קדחה באפי ותיקד עד שאול תחתית ותאכל ארץ ויבלה ותלהט מוסדי הרים (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 אספה עלימו רעות חצי אכלה בם

I will cause them to experience many disasters; [they will feel as though] [MET] I am shooting all my arrows at them.

24 מזי רעב ולחמי רשף וקטב מרירי ושן בהמת אשלח בם עם חמת זחלי עפר

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 מחוץ תשכל חרב ומחדרים אימה גם בחור גם בתולה--יונק עם איש שיבה

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 אמרתי אפאיהם אשביתה מאנוש זכרם

I wanted to scatter the Israeli people to distant countries in order that no one would ever remember them.

27 לולי כעס אויב אגור-- פן ינכרו צרימו פן יאמרו ידנו רמה ולא יהוה פעל כל זאת

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 כי גוי אבד עצות המה ואין בהם תבונה

You Israelis are a nation of people who do not have any sense. None of you is wise.

29 לו חכמו ישכילו זאת יבינו לאחריתם

If you were wise, you would understand [why you would be punished]; you would have realized what was going to happen to you.

30 איכה ירדף אחד אלף ושנים יניסו רבבה אם לא כי צורם מכרם ויהוה הסגירם

[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 כי לא כצורנו צורם ואיבינו פלילים

Your enemies know that their gods are not powerful like Yahweh, our God, [so their gods could not have defeated us Israelis].

32 כי מגפן סדם גפנם ומשדמת עמרה ענבמו ענבי רוש-- אשכלת מררת למו

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 חמת תנינם יינם וראש פתנים אכזר

the wine [from those grapes] is like the poison of snakes [DOU].

34 הלא הוא כמס עמדי חתום באוצרתי

[“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 לי נקם ושלם לעת תמוט רגלם כי קרוב יום אידם וחש עתדת למו

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 כי ידין יהוה עמו ועל עבדיו יתנחם כי יראה כי אזלת יד ואפס עצור ועזוב

“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 ואמר אי אלהימו-- צור חסיו בו

Then Yahweh will ask his people, ‘Where are the gods that you thought would protect you [MET]?

38 אשר חלב זבחימו יאכלו ישתו יין נסיכם יקומו ויעזרכם-- יהי עליכם סתרה

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 ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא ואין אלהים עמדי אני אמית ואחיה מחצתי ואני ארפא ואין מידי מציל

“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 כי אשא אל שמים ידי ואמרתי חי אנכי לעלם

I raise my hand toward heaven and solemnly declare that just as sure as I live forever,

41 אם שנותי ברק חרבי ותאחז במשפט ידי אשיב נקם לצרי ולמשנאי אשלם

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 אשכיר חצי מדם וחרבי תאכל בשר מדם חלל ושביה מראש פרעות אויב

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 הרנינו גוים עמו כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וכפר אדמתו עמו

“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 ויבא משה וידבר את כל דברי השירה הזאת--באזני העם הוא והושע בן נון

Joshua and Moses/I recited the words of that song while the Israeli people were listening.

45 ויכל משה לדבר את כל הדברים האלה--אל כל ישראל

When they/we finished reciting to the Israeli people the words of this song,

46 ויאמר אלהם שימו לבבכם לכל הדברים אשר אנכי מעיד בכם היום אשר תצום את בניכם לשמר לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת

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 כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם--כי הוא חייכם ובדבר הזה תאריכו ימים על האדמה אשר אתם עברים את הירדן שמה לרשתה

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 וידבר יהוה אל משה בעצם היום הזה לאמר

On that same day, Yahweh said to Moses/me,

49 עלה אל הר העברים הזה הר נבו אשר בארץ מואב אשר על פני ירחו וראה את ארץ כנען אשר אני נתן לבני ישראל לאחזה

“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 ומת בהר אשר אתה עלה שמה והאסף אל עמיך כאשר מת אהרן אחיך בהר ההר ויאסף אל עמיו

You will die on that mountain [EUP, DOU], like your [older] brother Aaron died on Hor Mountain.

51 על אשר מעלתם בי בתוך בני ישראל במי מריבת קדש מדבר צן--על אשר לא קדשתם אותי בתוך בני ישראל

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 כי מנגד תראה את הארץ ושמה לא תבוא--אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לבני ישראל

[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.”