Deuteronomy 31:13-32:25

English Standard Version

¹³and that their children, ^(A)who have not known it, ^(B)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ^(C)as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses, ^(D)“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ^(E)I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And ^(F)the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, ^(G)“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ^(H)whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ^(I)forsake me and ^(J)break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^(K)I will forsake them and ^(L)hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ^(M)‘Have not these evils come upon us because ^(N)our God is not among us?’ ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because ^(O)they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹“Now therefore write ^(P)this song and ^(Q)teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(R)a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land ^(S)flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ^(T)grown fat, ^(U)they will turn to other gods and serve them, and ^(V)despise me and ^(W)break my covenant. ²¹And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ^(X)a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ^(Y)I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” ²²So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

²³^(Z)And the Lord^[a] commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ^(AA)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ^(AB)I will be with you.”

²⁴When Moses had finished ^(AC)writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, ²⁵Moses commanded ^(AD)the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law ^(AE)and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ^(AF)a witness against you. ²⁷For I know how rebellious and ^(AG)stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, ^(AH)you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ^(AI)these words in their ears and ^(AJ)call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death ^(AK)you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And ^(AL)in the days to come ^(AM)evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AN)provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

32 “Give ear, ^(AO)O heavens, and I will speak,
    and let ^(AP)the earth hear the words of my mouth.
²May ^(AQ)my teaching drop as the rain,
    my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
    and ^(AR)like showers upon the herb.
³For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    ascribe ^(AS)greatness to our God!

⁴^(AT)“The Rock, ^(AU)his work is perfect,
    for ^(AV)all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and ^(AW)without iniquity,
    just and upright is he.
⁵They have dealt corruptly with him;
    they are no longer his children ^(AX)because they are blemished;
    they are ^(AY)a crooked and twisted generation.
⁶Do you thus repay the Lord,
    you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he ^(AZ)your father, who ^(BA)created you,
    who ^(BB)made you and established you?
⁷^(BC)Remember the days of old;
    consider the years of many generations;
^(BD)ask your father, and he will show you,
    your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸When the Most High ^(BE)gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he ^(BF)divided mankind,
he fixed the borders^[b] of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.^[c]
⁹But the Lord's portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰“He found him ^(BG)in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he ^(BH)encircled him, he cared for him,
    he ^(BI)kept him as the apple of his eye.
¹¹^(BJ)Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
    bearing them on its pinions,
¹²^(BK)the Lord alone guided him,
    ^(BL)no foreign god was with him.
¹³^(BM)He made him ride on the high places of the land,
    and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with ^(BN)honey out of the rock,
    and ^(BO)oil out of ^(BP)the flinty rock.
¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat^[d] of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
    with the very finest^[e] of the wheat—
    and you drank foaming wine made from ^(BQ)the blood of the grape.

¹⁵“But ^(BR)Jeshurun grew fat, and ^(BS)kicked;
    ^(BT)you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
^(BU)then he forsook God ^(BV)who made him
    and scoffed at ^(BW)the Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶^(BX)They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
¹⁷^(BY)They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to ^(BZ)new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
¹⁸You were unmindful of ^(CA)the Rock that bore^[f] you,
    and you ^(CB)forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹^(CC)“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of ^(CD)his sons and his daughters.
²⁰And he said, ^(CE)‘I will hide my face from them;
    I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.
²¹^(CF)They have made me jealous with what is no god;
    they have provoked me to anger ^(CG)with their idols.
So ^(CH)I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
    I will provoke them to anger with ^(CI)a foolish nation.
²²For ^(CJ)a fire is kindled by my anger,
    and it burns to ^(CK)the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
    and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³“‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
    ^(CL)I will spend my arrows on them;
²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger,
    and devoured by plague
    and poisonous pestilence;
I will send ^(CM)the teeth of beasts against them,
    with the venom of ^(CN)things that crawl in the dust.
²⁵^(CO)Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
    and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
    the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 31:23 Hebrew he
Deuteronomy 32:8 Or territories
Deuteronomy 32:8 Compare Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text sons of Israel
Deuteronomy 32:14 That is, with the best
Deuteronomy 32:14 Hebrew with the kidney fat
Deuteronomy 32:18 Or fathered