Deuteronomy 32
Legacy Standard Bible
32 “(A)Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 (B)Let what I have learned drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
(C)As the droplets on the fresh grass
And as the showers on the herb.
3 (D)For I proclaim the name of Yahweh;
(E)Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 (F)The Rock! His work is [a]perfect,
(G)For all His ways are [b]just;
(H)A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.
5 [c](I)They have acted corruptly toward Him,
They are not His children because of their defect;
(J)But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do you thus (K)repay Yahweh,
(L)O people who are wickedly foolish and without wisdom?
(M)Is not He your Father who has bought you?
(N)He has made you and established you.
7 Remember the ancient days,
Consider the years from generation to generation.
(O)Ask your father, and he will declare to you,
Your elders, and they will speak to you.
8 (P)When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of [d]man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
(Q)According to the number of the [e]sons of Israel.
9 (R)For Yahweh’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 (S)He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He encircled him; He cared for him;
He guarded him as (T)the pupil of His eye.
11 (U)Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
(V)He spread His wings and caught them;
He carried them on His pinions.
12 (W)Yahweh alone guided him,
(X)And there was no foreign god with him.
13 (Y)He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
(Z)And He made him suck honey from the rock,
And (AA)oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,
(AB)With the finest of the wheat—
And of the (AC)blood of grapes you drank wine.
15 “(AD)But [f]Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You grew fat, thick, and sleek—
(AE)Then he abandoned God (AF)who made him,
And treated (AG)the Rock of his salvation with wicked foolishness.
16 (AH)They made Him jealous with strange gods;
(AI)With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 (AJ)They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
(AK)To gods whom they have not known,
(AL)New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 You neglected (AM)the Rock who begot you,
(AN)And forgot the God who brought you forth.
19 “(AO)And Yahweh saw this and spurned them
(AP)Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them;
(AQ)I will see what their end shall be;
(AR)For they are a perverse generation,
(AS)Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 (AT)They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their [g](AU)idols.
(AV)So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a wickedly foolish nation,
22 (AW)For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
(AX)And it consumes the earth with its produce,
And it sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 ‘(AY)I will heap calamities on them;
(AZ)I will exhaust My arrows on them.
24 (BA)They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by [h]plague
(BB)And bitter destruction;
(BC)And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
(BD)With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 (BE)Outside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror—
(BF)Both choice man and virgin,
The nursing baby with the man of gray hair.
26 I would have said, “(BG)I will cut them to pieces;
(BH)I will cause the memory of them to cease from men,”
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
Lest their adversaries misjudge,
Lest they say, “(BI)Our hand is [i]triumphant,
And Yahweh has not done all this.”’
28 “(BJ)For they are a nation where counsel perishes,
And there is no discernment in them.
29 (BK)Would that they were wise, that they had insight into this,
(BL)That they would understand their [j]future!
30 (BM)How could one pursue one thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their (BN)Rock had sold them,
And Yahweh had handed them over?
31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,
(BO)Even our enemies [k]themselves judge this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of (BP)poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of [l]serpents,
And the [m]deadly poison of cobras.
34 ‘(BQ)Is it not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 (BR)Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
(BS)In due time their foot will stumble;
(BT)For the day of their disaster is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’
36 (BU)For Yahweh will render justice to His people,
(BV)And will have compassion on His slaves,
When He sees that their [n]strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 And He will say, ‘(BW)Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 (BX)Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
(BY)Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your hiding place!
39 (BZ)See now that I, I am He,
(CA)And there is no god besides Me;
(CB)It is I who put to death and give life.
(CC)I have wounded, and it is I who heal,
(CD)And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 Indeed, (CE)I lift up My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,
41 (CF)If I sharpen My [o]flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
(CG)I will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 (CH)I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
(CI)And My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long-haired [p]leaders of the enemy.’
43 (CJ)O nations, cause His people to shout for joy;
(CK)For He will avenge the blood of His slaves,
(CL)And He will render vengeance on His adversaries,
(CM)And He will atone for His land and His people.”
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and [q](CN)Joshua the son of Nun. 45 Then Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them, “(CO)Place in your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command (CP)your sons to be careful to do, even all the words of this law. 47 For it is not an idle word for you; indeed (CQ)it is your life. And (CR)by this word you will prolong your days in the land, [r]which you are about to cross the Jordan to [s]possess.”
Moses to Go Up Mount Nebo
48 (CS)And Yahweh spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 49 “(CT)Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab [t]opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. 50 Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be (CU)gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 (CV)because you both acted unfaithfully with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the (CW)wilderness of Zin, because you both did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52 (CX)For you shall see the land at a distance, but (CY)you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:4 Or blameless, cf. 2 Sam 22:31; Ps 18:30
- Deuteronomy 32:4 Or judgment
- Deuteronomy 32:5 Lit It has
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Or Adam
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Gr angels of God; DSS number of the sons of God
- Deuteronomy 32:15 A poetic name for Israel, cf. 33:5, 26; Is 44:2
- Deuteronomy 32:21 Lit vanities
- Deuteronomy 32:24 Lit burning heat
- Deuteronomy 32:27 Lit high
- Deuteronomy 32:29 Or latter end
- Deuteronomy 32:31 Lit are judges
- Deuteronomy 32:33 Lit dragons
- Deuteronomy 32:33 Lit cruel
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Lit hand
- Deuteronomy 32:41 Or lightning
- Deuteronomy 32:42 Lit head
- Deuteronomy 32:44 Lit Hoshea
- Deuteronomy 32:47 Lit where
- Deuteronomy 32:47 Lit possess it
- Deuteronomy 32:49 Lit which is opposite
Deuteronomy 32
New Living Translation
32 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
2 Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
like gentle showers on young plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
how glorious is our God!
4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
how just and upright he is!
5 “But they have acted corruptly toward him;
when they act so perversely,
are they really his children?[a]
They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
6 Is this the way you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t he your Father who created you?
Has he not made you and established you?
7 Remember the days of long ago;
think about the generations past.
Ask your father, and he will inform you.
Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High assigned lands to the nations,
when he divided up the human race,
he established the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number in his heavenly court.[b]
9 “For the people of Israel belong to the Lord;
Jacob is his special possession.
10 He found them in a desert land,
in an empty, howling wasteland.
He surrounded them and watched over them;
he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.[c]
11 Like an eagle that rouses her chicks
and hovers over her young,
so he spread his wings to take them up
and carried them safely on his pinions.
12 The Lord alone guided them;
they followed no foreign gods.
13 He let them ride over the highlands
and feast on the crops of the fields.
He nourished them with honey from the rock
and olive oil from the stony ground.
14 He fed them yogurt from the herd
and milk from the flock,
together with the fat of lambs.
He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats,
together with the choicest wheat.
You drank the finest wine,
made from the juice of grapes.
15 “But Israel[d] soon became fat and unruly;
the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed!
Then they abandoned the God who had made them;
they made light of the Rock of their salvation.
16 They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods;
they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.
17 They offered sacrifices to demons, which are not God,
to gods they had not known before,
to new gods only recently arrived,
to gods their ancestors had never feared.
18 You neglected the Rock who had fathered you;
you forgot the God who had given you birth.
19 “The Lord saw this and drew back,
provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.
20 He said, ‘I will abandon them;
then see what becomes of them.
For they are a twisted generation,
children without integrity.
21 They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God;
they have provoked my anger with their useless idols.
Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people;
I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.
22 For my anger blazes forth like fire
and burns to the depths of the grave.[e]
It devours the earth and all its crops
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters upon them
and shoot them down with my arrows.
24 I will weaken them with famine,
burning fever, and deadly disease.
I will send the fangs of wild beasts
and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.
25 Outside, the sword will bring death,
and inside, terror will strike
both young men and young women,
both infants and the aged.
26 I would have annihilated them,
wiping out even the memory of them.
27 But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy,
who might misunderstand and say,
“Our own power has triumphed!
The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’
28 “But Israel is a senseless nation;
the people are foolish, without understanding.
29 Oh, that they were wise and could understand this!
Oh, that they might know their fate!
30 How could one person chase a thousand of them,
and two people put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the Lord had given them up?
31 But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock,
as even they recognize.[f]
32 Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison,
and their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34 “The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things,
sealing them away in my treasury?
35 I will take revenge; I will pay them back.
In due time their feet will slip.
Their day of disaster will arrive,
and their destiny will overtake them.’
36 “Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people,
and he will change his mind about[g] his servants,
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.
37 Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods,
the rocks they fled to for refuge?
38 Where now are those gods,
who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their offerings?
Let those gods arise and help you!
Let them provide you with shelter!
39 Look now; I myself am he!
There is no other god but me!
I am the one who kills and gives life;
I am the one who wounds and heals;
no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!
40 Now I raise my hand to heaven
and declare, “As surely as I live,
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword
and begin to carry out justice,
I will take revenge on my enemies
and repay those who reject me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh—
the blood of the slaughtered and the captives,
and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’
43 “Rejoice with him, you heavens,
and let all of God’s angels worship him.[h]
Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles,
and let all the angels be strengthened in him.[i]
For he will avenge the blood of his children[j];
he will take revenge against his enemies.
He will repay those who hate him[k]
and cleanse his people’s land.”
44 So Moses came with Joshua[l] son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.
45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel, 46 he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. 47 These instructions are not empty words—they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”
Moses’ Death Foretold
48 That same day the Lord said to Moses, 49 “Go to Moab, to the mountains east of the river,[m] and climb Mount Nebo, which is across from Jericho. Look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel as their own special possession. 50 Then you will die there on the mountain. You will join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors. 51 For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh[n] in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there. 52 So you will see the land from a distance, but you may not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
Footnotes
- 32:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 32:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, which read the number of the sons of God, and Greek version, which reads the number of the angels of God; Masoretic Text reads the number of the sons of Israel.
- 32:10 Hebrew as the pupil of his eye.
- 32:15 Hebrew Jeshurun, a term of endearment for Israel.
- 32:22 Hebrew of Sheol.
- 32:31 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Greek version reads our enemies are fools.
- 32:36 Or will take revenge for.
- 32:43a As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks the first two lines. Compare Heb 1:6.
- 32:43b As in Greek version; Hebrew text lacks this sentence. Compare Rom 15:10.
- 32:43c As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads his servants.
- 32:43d As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks this line.
- 32:44 Hebrew Hoshea, a variant name for Joshua.
- 32:49 Hebrew the mountains of Abarim.
- 32:51 Hebrew waters of Meribath-kadesh.
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