Israel’s Rebellion Predicted

14 The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death(A) is near. Call Joshua(B) and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.(C)” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.(D)

15 Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.(E) 16 And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors,(F) and these people will soon prostitute(G) themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake(H) me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry(I) with them and forsake(J) them; I will hide(K) my face(L) from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters(M) and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’(N) 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

19 “Now write(O) down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness(P) for me against them. 20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors,(Q) and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods(R) and worship them,(S) rejecting me and breaking my covenant.(T) 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them,(U) this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do,(V) even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote(W) down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

23 The Lord gave this command(X) to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous,(Y) for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”

24 After Moses finished writing(Z) in a book the words of this law(AA) from beginning to end, 25 he gave this command to the Levites who carried(AB) the ark of the covenant of the Lord: 26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.(AC) 27 For I know how rebellious(AD) and stiff-necked(AE) you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! 28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.(AF) 29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt(AG) and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster(AH) will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”

The Song of Moses

30 And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:

32 Listen,(AI) you heavens,(AJ) and I will speak;
    hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.(AK)
Let my teaching fall like rain(AL)
    and my words descend like dew,(AM)
like showers(AN) on new grass,
    like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim(AO) the name of the Lord.(AP)
    Oh, praise the greatness(AQ) of our God!
He is the Rock,(AR) his works are perfect,(AS)
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God(AT) who does no wrong,
    upright(AU) and just is he.(AV)

They are corrupt and not his children;
    to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.(AW)
Is this the way you repay(AX) the Lord,
    you foolish(AY) and unwise people?(AZ)
Is he not your Father,(BA) your Creator,[a]
    who made you and formed you?(BB)

Remember the days of old;(BC)
    consider the generations long past.(BD)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
    your elders, and they will explain to you.(BE)
When the Most High(BF) gave the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided all mankind,(BG)
he set up boundaries(BH) for the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of Israel.[b](BI)
For the Lord’s portion(BJ) is his people,
    Jacob his allotted inheritance.(BK)

10 In a desert(BL) land he found him,
    in a barren and howling waste.(BM)
He shielded(BN) him and cared for him;
    he guarded him as the apple of his eye,(BO)
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,(BP)
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft.(BQ)
12 The Lord alone led(BR) him;(BS)
    no foreign god was with him.(BT)

13 He made him ride on the heights(BU) of the land
    and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,(BV)
    and with oil(BW) from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
    and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan(BX)
    and the finest kernels of wheat.(BY)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.(BZ)

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 32:6 Or Father, who bought you
  2. Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

15 And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.

16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.

24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.

27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?

28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.

29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

32 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12 So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.