Deuteronomy 32
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Song of Moses
32 Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;
listen, earth, to the words of my mouth.(A)
2 Let my teaching fall like rain
and my word settle like dew,
like gentle rain on new grass
and showers on tender plants.
3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.
Declare the greatness of our God!
4 The Rock—His work is perfect;
all His ways are entirely just.
A faithful God, without prejudice,
He is righteous and true.
5 His people have acted corruptly toward Him;
this is their defect[a]—they are not His children
but a devious and crooked generation.
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t He your Father and Creator?
Didn’t He make you and sustain you?
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the years long past.
Ask your father, and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will teach you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance[b]
and divided the human race,(B)
He set the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the people of Israel.[c]
9 But the Lord’s portion is His people,
Jacob, His own inheritance.
10 He found him in a desolate land,
in a barren, howling wilderness;
He surrounded him, cared for him,
and protected him as the pupil of His eye.(C)
11 He watches over[d] His nest like an eagle
and hovers over His young;
He spreads His wings, catches him,
and lifts him up on His pinions.(D)
12 The Lord alone led him,
with no help from a foreign god.[e]
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land(E)
and eat the produce of the field.
He nourished him with honey from the rock
and oil from flint-like rock,
14 cream from the herd and milk from the flock,
with the fat of lambs,
rams from Bashan, and goats,
with the choicest grains of wheat;
you drank wine from the finest grapes.[f]
15 Then[g] Jeshurun[h](F) became fat and rebelled—
you became fat, bloated, and gorged.
He abandoned the God who made him
and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods;
they enraged Him with detestable practices.(G)
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known,
new gods that had just arrived,
which your fathers did not fear.(H)
18 You ignored the Rock who gave you birth;
you forgot the God who gave birth to you.
19 When the Lord saw this, He despised them,
provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
20 He said: “I will hide My face from them;
I will see what will become of them,
for they are a perverse generation—
unfaithful children.
21 They have provoked My jealousy
with their so-called gods;[i]
they have enraged Me with their worthless idols.
So I will provoke their jealousy
with an inferior people;[j]
I will enrage them with a foolish nation.(I)
22 For fire has been kindled because of My anger
and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the land and its produce,
and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
23 “I will pile disasters on them;
I will use up My arrows against them.
24 They will be weak from hunger,
ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;
I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs,
as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.
25 Outside, the sword will take their children,
and inside, there will be terror;
the young man and the young woman will be killed,
the infant and the gray-haired man.(J)
26 “I would have said: I will cut them to pieces[k]
and blot out the memory of them from mankind,
27 if I had not feared insult from the enemy,
or feared that these foes might misunderstand
and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed;
it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’”
28 Israel is a nation lacking sense
with no understanding at all.[l]
29 If only they were wise, they would figure it out;
they would understand their fate.
30 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 But their “rock” is not like our Rock;
even our enemies concede.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous;
their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is serpents’ venom,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34 “Is it not stored up with Me,
sealed up in My vaults?
35 Vengeance[m] belongs to Me; I will repay.[n](K)
In time their foot will slip,
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly.”
36 The Lord will indeed vindicate His people
and have compassion on His servants(L)
when He sees that their strength is gone
and no one is left—slave or free.
37 He will say: “Where are their gods,
the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you;
let it[o] be a shelter for you.
39 See now that I alone am He;
there is no God but Me.(M)
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal.
No one can rescue anyone from My hand.(N)
40 I raise My hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen My flashing sword,
and My hand takes hold of judgment,
I will take vengeance on My adversaries
and repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood
while My sword devours flesh—
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”[p]
43 Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people,[q](O)
for He will avenge the blood of His servants.[r]
He will take vengeance on His adversaries;[s](P)
He will purify His land and His people.[t]
44 Moses came with Joshua[u] son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people. 45 After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. 47 For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Moses’ Impending Death
48 On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses,(Q) 49 “Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession. 50 Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.(R) 51 For both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence. 52 Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there.”(S)
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:5 Or Him; through their fault; Hb obscure
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Or Most High divided the nations
- Deuteronomy 32:8 One DSS reads number of the sons of God; LXX reads number of the angels of God
- Deuteronomy 32:11 Or He stirs up
- Deuteronomy 32:12 Lit him, and no foreign god with Him
- Deuteronomy 32:14 Lit the blood of grapes
- Deuteronomy 32:15 DSS, Sam, LXX add Jacob ate his fill;
- Deuteronomy 32:15 = Upright One, referring to Israel
- Deuteronomy 32:21 Lit with no gods
- Deuteronomy 32:21 Lit with no people
- Deuteronomy 32:26 LXX reads will scatter them
- Deuteronomy 32:28 Lit understanding in them
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Sam, LXX read On a day of vengeance
- Deuteronomy 32:35 LXX, Tg, Vg read Me; and recompense I will recompense
- Deuteronomy 32:38 Sam, LXX, Tg, Vg read them
- Deuteronomy 32:42 Or the long-haired heads of the enemy
- Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX reads Rejoice, you heavens, along with Him, and let all the sons of God worship Him; rejoice, you nations, with His people, and let all the angels of God strengthen themselves in Him; DSS read Rejoice, you heavens, along with Him, and let all the angels worship Him; Heb 1:6
- Deuteronomy 32:43 DSS, LXX read sons
- Deuteronomy 32:43 DSS, LXX add and He will recompense those who hate Him; v. 41
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Syr, Tg; DSS, Sam, LXX, Vg read His people’s land
- Deuteronomy 32:44 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Hoshea; Nm 13:8,16
Deuteronomy 32
International Standard Version
The Song of Moses
32 Hear, heavens, and I will speak!
Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth!
2 May my instructions descend like rain
and may my words flow like dew,
as light rain upon the grass,
and as showers upon new plants.
3 For I’ll proclaim the name of our Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 Flawless is the work of the Rock,
because all his ways are just.
A faithful God—never unjust—
righteous and upright is he.
5 But those who are not his children
acted corruptly against him;
they are a defective and perverted generation.
6 This is not the way to repay the Lord, is it,
you foolish and witless people?
Is he not your father,
who bought you, formed you, and established you?
An Exhortation to Remember God’s Work
7 Remember the days of old,
reflect on the years of previous generations.
Ask your father,
and he’ll tell you;
your elders will inform you.
8 When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance,
when he separated the human race,
he set boundaries for the people
according to the number of the children of God.[a]
9 For the Lord’s portion is his people;
Jacob is his allotted portion.
The Lord’s Work on Behalf of Israel
10 The Lord[b] found him[c] in a desert land,
in a barren, eerie[d] wilderness.
He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him
as the pupil of his eye.
11 Like an eagle stirs its nest,
hovering near its young,
spreading out his wings to take him
and carry him on his pinions,
12 the Lord alone guided him.
There was no foreign god with him.
13 He mounted him on a high place above the earth,
feeding him from the produce of the field.
He nourished[e] him with honey from the rock
and with oil from the flint rock,
14 with curds from cattle and with milk from sheep,
with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan,
with the fat of goats, with the finest[f] of wheat—
and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.
Israel’s Rebellion
15 Jacob dined until satisfied;[g]
Jeshurun[h] grew fat and kicked.
He[i] grew fat, coarse, and gross,
so that he abandoned the God who made him
and spurned the Rock that was his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners
and to anger over detestable things.
17 They sacrificed to demons—
not to the real God—
gods whom they didn’t know,
new neighbors who had recently appeared,
whom your ancestors never feared.
18 You[j] neglected the Rock that fathered you;
you abandoned God, who was awaiting your birth.[k]
The Lord’s Response
19 The Lord saw it and became jealous,[l]
provoked by his sons and daughters.
20 So he said:
“Let me hide my face from them.
I will observe what their end will be,
because they are a perverted generation,
children within whom there is no loyalty.
21 They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods,
and to be angry over their vanity.
Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people;
and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.
22 For a fire breaks out in my anger—
burning to the deepest part of[m] the afterlife,[n]
consuming the earth and its produce
and igniting the foundations of the mountains.
23 I’ll bury them in misfortunes
and bring them to an end with my arrows.
24 Emaciated from famine,
feverish from plague,
and destroyed by bitterness,
I’ll send fanged beasts against them,
along with poisonous snakes that glide through the dust.
25 Outside, the sword will cause bereavement;
within,[o] there will be terror
for the young man and virgin alike,
also for the nursing infant and the aged man.”[p]
26 “I said,
‘I will scatter them,[q]
erasing their memory from the human race,[r]
27 if it weren’t for dreading the taunting of their enemies—
otherwise, their adversary might misinterpret and say,
“Our power is great.
It isn’t the Lord who made all of this happen.”’”
Moses Warns Israel
28 They are a nation devoid of purpose
and without insight.
29 O, that they were wise to understand this
and consider their future![s]
30 How can one person[t] chase a thousand of them
and two put a myriad[u] to flight,
unless their Rock delivers them
and the Lord gives them up?
31 For their rock isn’t like our Rock,
as even[v] our enemies admit.[w]
32 Instead,[x] their vine is from the vines of Sodom
and the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous,
their clusters bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
a poisonous cobra.
The Lord’s Response
34 “Is this not kept in reserve,
sealed up with me in my treasury?
35 To me belong vengeance and recompense.
In due time their feet will slip,
because their time of calamity is near
and the things prepared for them draw near.
36 For the Lord will vindicate his people
and bring comfort to his servants,
because he will observe that their power[y] has waned,
when neither prisoner[z] nor free person remain.
37 “He will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their offerings
and drank the wine that was their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you
and be your hiding place!’
39 “Look now! I AM,[aa]
and there is no other god besides me.
I myself cause death
and I sustain life;
I wound severely
and I also heal;
from my power[ab] no one can deliver.
40 “I solemnly swear[ac] to heaven—
I say ‘As certainly as I’m alive and living forever,
41 I’ll whet my shining sword,
with my hands in firm grasp of judgment.
I’ll show vengeance on my adversary
and repay those who keep on hating me.
42 I’ll make my arrows drunk with blood.
My sword will devour flesh,
along with the blood of the slain,
and I’ll take their enemy leaders captive.’
43 “Sing for joy, nations!
Sing for joy,[ad] people who belong to him!
For he’ll avenge the blood of his servants,
turn on his adversary,
and cleanse both his land and his people.”
Moses’ Final Counsel
44 So Moses and Nun’s son Joshua came and recited all the words of this song while the people were assembled. 45 When Moses had finished addressing all of these words to all Israel, 46 he told them, “Take to heart my entire testimony against you today. Command your children to observe carefully every word of this Law, 47 because they’re not just empty words for you—they are your very life. Through these instructions you will live long in the land that you are about to cross over the Jordan River to possess.”
Moses Forbidden to Enter Canaan
48 Later that day, the Lord told Moses, 49 “Ascend this Abarim mountain range[ae] toward Mount Nebo in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and look out over the land of Canaan that I’m about to give to the Israelis as a possession. 50 You will die on the mountain that you are about to ascend and be taken to be with your ancestors, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was taken to be with his ancestors. 51 Both of you acted unfaithfully against me among the Israelis at Meribah-kadesh in the desert of Zin, when you failed to uphold my holiness among the Israelis. 52 You’ll see the land from a distance, but you won’t be able to enter the land that I am about to give to the Israelis.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:8 So with LXX and DSS 4QDeut. MT reads the Israelis
- Deuteronomy 32:10 Lit. He
- Deuteronomy 32:10 I.e. Jacob as a personification of national Israel; and so throughout the song
- Deuteronomy 32:10 Lit. howling
- Deuteronomy 32:13 Or nursed
- Deuteronomy 32:14 Lit. kernel
- Deuteronomy 32:15 So DSS Q Sam and LXX; the Heb. lacks Jacob dined until satisfied
- Deuteronomy 32:15 I.e. a poetic term for national Israel; the Heb. name means Upright One
- Deuteronomy 32:15 Lit. You
- Deuteronomy 32:18 I.e. the nation of Israel personified in the second person sing. pronoun, and so throughout the verse
- Deuteronomy 32:18 Or who was giving birth to you
- Deuteronomy 32:19 So DSS, LXX. MT reads and was repulsed
- Deuteronomy 32:22 The Heb. lacks part of
- Deuteronomy 32:22 Lit. Sheol
- Deuteronomy 32:25 Lit. within the room
- Deuteronomy 32:25 Lit. and a man of gray hair
- Deuteronomy 32:26 Or will break them to pieces
- Deuteronomy 32:26 Lit. from among men
- Deuteronomy 32:29 Lit. end
- Deuteronomy 32:30 The Heb. lacks person
- Deuteronomy 32:30 Or put countless ones; Lit. put ten thousand
- Deuteronomy 32:31 Lit. and
- Deuteronomy 32:31 Or concede
- Deuteronomy 32:32 Lit. Because
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Lit. hand
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Or slave
- Deuteronomy 32:39 So LXX; MT reads I, I myself, am he
- Deuteronomy 32:39 Lit. hand
- Deuteronomy 32:40 Lit. raise my hand
- Deuteronomy 32:43 The Heb. lacks Sing for joy
- Deuteronomy 32:49 The Heb. lacks range
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