Deuteronomy 32

Wycliffe Bible

32 Ye heavens, hear what things I shall speak; the earth hear the words of my mouth.

² My teaching wax (al)together as rain; my speech flow out as dew, as soft rain upon herb, and as drops upon grass. (My teaching shall fall like drops of rain; my speech shall flow out like the dew, like showers on the herbs, and raindrops on the grass.)

³ For I shall inwardly call the name of the Lord; give ye glory to our God. (For I shall call out loud the name of the Lord; give ye glory to our God.)

⁴ The works of God be perfect, and all his ways be dooms (and all his ways be just); God is faithful, and without any wickedness; he is just and rightful.

⁵ They sinned against him, and (they be) not his sons, (they be) in the filths of idolatry; (they be a) depraved and wayward generation.

⁶ Whether thou yieldest these things to the Lord, thou fond people and unwise? Whether he is not thy father, that wielded thee, and made, and formed thee of nought? (Did thou yield these things to the Lord, thou foolish and unwise people? Is he not thy father, who made thee, and formed thee out of nothing, and wieldeth thee?)

⁷ Have thou mind of eld days, think thou (on) all generations; ask thy father, and he shall tell to thee, ask thy greater men, and they shall say to thee. (Remember the days of old, and think thou on all the generations; ask thy father, and he shall tell thee, ask the men of great age, that is, thy elders, and they shall say to thee.)

⁸ When the highest parted folks, when he separated the sons of Adam, he ordained the terms of peoples by the number of the sons of Israel. (When the Most High God divided the nations, when he separated the sons of man, he ordained the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.)

⁹ Forsooth the part of the Lord is his people; Jacob is the little part of his heritage. (But the Lord’s portion was his own people; Jacob was the portion of his inheritance.)

¹⁰ The Lord found him in a desert land, in the place of horror, either hideousness, and of waste wilderness; the Lord led him about, and taught him, and he kept him as the apple of his eye. (The Lord found them in a desert land, in a howling, wasted wilderness; and the Lord led them about, and taught them, and kept them as the apple of his eye.)

¹¹ As an eagle stirring his birds to fly, and flying above them, he spreaded forth his wings, and took them into his protection, and he bare them in his shoulders. (Like an eagle stirring his young to fly, and flying above them, he spread out his wings, and took them up, and he carried them upon his shoulders.)

¹² The Lord alone was his leader, and none alien god was with him. (The Lord alone was their leader, and no other god was with him.)

¹³ The Lord ordained him on an high land, that he should eat the fruits of fields, that he should suck honey of a stone, and oil of the hardest rock; (The Lord ordained them upon the highlands, and they ate the fruits of the fields, and sucked honey out of the stones, and oil out of the hardest rock,)

¹⁴ butter of the drove, and milk of sheep, with the fatness of lambs, and of rams, of the sons of Bashan; and that he should eat kids with [the] marrow, or tried flour, of wheat, and he should drink the clearest blood, or wine, of the grape. (and they ate butter from the herds, and milk from the sheep, and the fatness of lambs, and rams from the sons of Bashan, and goats, and the marrow, or the fine flour, of wheat; and they drank the clearest blood, that is, the purest wine, of the grapes.)

¹⁵ The beloved people was made fat, and (they) kicked against (God); made fat withoutforth, made fat within, and alarged; he forsook God his maker, and went away from God his health/from God his saviour. (And Jeshurun was made fat, and rebellious; made fat withoutforth, made fat within, yea enlarged; and they forsook God their Maker, and went away from God their salvation/from God their Saviour.)

¹⁶ They stirred God to wrath in alien gods that they praised, they stirred him to wrathfulness in their abominations, that is, their own findings. (They provoked God to anger with foreign, or other, gods that they praised, and they stirred him to rage with their abominable doings.)

¹⁷ They offered to fiends, or devils, and not to God, to gods which they knew not, (to) new gods, and fresh(ly) came up by their findings, which their fathers worshipped not. (They offered to fiends, or to devils, and not to God, to gods which they knew not, to new gods which they discovered in their searching, that their fathers did not worship.)

¹⁸ Thou hast forsaken God that begat thee, and thou hast forgotten thy Lord creator/the Lord thy maker. (Thou hast forsaken the God who begat thee, and thou hast forgotten the Lord thy Creator/the Lord thy Maker.)

¹⁹ The Lord saw that, and he was stirred to wrathfulness; for his sons, and daughters stirred him to vengeance. (The Lord saw this, and he was stirred to rage; yea, his sons and his daughters, stirred him to vengeance.)

²⁰ And the Lord said, I shall hide my face from them, and I shall behold their last things; for this is a wayward generation, and unfaithful sons they be. (And the Lord said, I shall hide my face from them, and then I shall see what will happen to them; for this is a wayward generation, they be unfaithful children.)

²¹ They have stirred me to wrath in worshipping him that was not God, and they have moved me to vengeance in their vain idols; and I shall stir them (to wrath) in him, that is not a people, and I shall stir them to ire in a fond folk. (They have stirred me to jealousy by worshipping what was not God, and they have moved me to vengeance with their vain idols; and so I shall stir them to jealousy, with those who be not a people, and I shall stir them to anger, with a nation of fools.)

²² Fire is kindled in my strong vengeance, and it shall burn unto the last things of hell; and it shall devour the land with his fruit, and it shall burn the foundaments of hills (and it shall devour the land with its fruit, and it shall burn the very roots, or the foundations, of the mountains).

²³ I shall gather evils on them, and I shall [ful]fill mine arrows in them. (I shall gather one evil after another upon them, and I shall send all my arrows against them/and I shall spend all my arrows against them.)

²⁴ They shall be wasted with hunger, and birds shall devour them with most bitter biting; I shall send into them the teeth of beasts, with the strong vengeance of (those) drawing upon (the) earth, and of serpents. (They shall be wasted with hunger, and fever, and terrible sicknesses; I shall send into them the teeth of beasts, and the poisonous bites of serpents which draw themselves upon the ground/through the dust.)

²⁵ Sword withoutforth, and dread within, shall waste them; a young man and a virgin together, a sucking child with an eld man.

²⁶ And I said, Where be they now? I shall make the mind of them to cease of all men (I shall make the memory of them to vanish, or to cease, from all people).

²⁷ But I delayed, or tarried, for the wrath of (their) enemies, lest peradventure their enemies should be proud, and say, Our high hand, and not the Lord(’s), did all these things.

²⁸ It is a folk without counsel, and without prudence, or wariness; (They be a nation without counsel, and without wisdom, or without caution;)

²⁹ I would that they savoured, and understood, and purveyed the last things. (O that they considered, and understood this, and gave some thought to their end.)

³⁰ How pursued one of (their) enemies a thousand of Jews, and twain drove away ten thousand? Whether not therefore for their God had sold them, forsaking them, and the Lord had enclosed them altogether in their enemies’ hands? (How could just one of their enemies pursue a thousand Jews, and two drive away ten thousand? Was it not because their God had forsaken them, and had sold them out to their enemies, yea, the Lord had given them up into the hands of their enemies?)

³¹ For our God is not as the gods of them, and our enemies be judges (of this). (For our enemies have no god like our God, ours is strong, and they know that their gods be weak.)

³² The vine of them is of the vine of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrah; the grape of them is the grape of gall, and the cluster is most bitter. (Their vines be like the vines of Sodom, and like those grown in the suburbs of Gomorrah; their grapes be grapes of gall, and their clusters be most bitter.)

³³ The gall of dragons is the wine of them, and the venom of adders, that may not be healed. (The gall of dragons is their wine, yea, the cruel venom of adders.)

³⁴ Whether these things be not hid with me, and be sealed (up) in my treasuries, (or in my storehouses)?

³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and I shall yield (it) to them in time, (so) that the foot of them slide; the day of perdition is nigh, and the times hasten to be present.

³⁶ The Lord shall deem his people, and he shall do mercy in his servants; the people shall see that the hand of (the) fighters is sick, or feeble, and also men (en)closed failed, and the remnant people, or left, be wasted. (The Lord shall judge his people, and he shall do mercy to his servants; for he shall see that the hands of their fighters be feeble, or weak, and that the enclosed men have failed, and that the remnant, that is, the people who were left, now is gone.)

³⁷ And they shall say, Where be their gods, in which they had trust? (And then the Lord shall say, Where be your gods, in which ye had trust?)

³⁸ Of whose sacrifices they ate the fatnesses, and they drank the wine of flowing sacrifices, rise they and help you, and defend they you in (time of) need. (Yea, the gods which ate the fat of your offerings, and which drank the wine of your wine offerings, now let them rise up and help you, and defend they you in your time of need!)

³⁹ See, or understand, ye, that I am God alone, and none other God is except me; I shall slay, and I shall make to live; I shall smite, and I shall make whole; and none is that may deliver from mine hand. (See ye, that is, understand ye, that I am God alone, and there is no other god except me; I shall kill, and I shall make to live; I shall strike down, and I shall make whole; no one can rescue anyone out of my hands.)

⁴⁰ And I shall raise up mine hand to heaven, and I shall say, I live without end. (And I shall raise up my hand to heaven, and I shall say, As surely as I live forever,)

⁴¹ If I shall whet my sword as lightning, and mine hand shall take doom, I shall yield vengeance to mine enemies, and I shall requite to them that hate me. (I shall whet my sword with lightning, and my hand shall make judgement, I shall yield vengeance to my enemies, and I shall requite to them who hate me.)

⁴² I shall full-fill mine arrows with blood, and my sword shall devour (the) fleshes of the blood of them that be slain, and of the captivity, of the head(s) of (the) enemies made naked. (I shall fill my arrows full of blood, and my sword shall devour the flesh of the blood of them who be killed, and of the captives, yea, the very heads of the enemies.)

⁴³ Folks, praise ye the people of him, for he shall venge the blood of his servants, and he shall yield vengeance to the enemies of them (Nations, praise ye him with his people, for he shall avenge the blood of his servants, and he shall yield vengeance to their enemies); and he shall be merciful to the land of his people.

⁴⁴ Therefore Moses came, and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people; both he and Joshua, the son of Nun. (And so Moses came, and spoke all the words of this song to the people; both he and Joshua, the son of Nun.)

⁴⁵ And Moses fulfilled all these words, and spake to all Israel, (And when Moses finished speaking all these words, to all Israel,)

⁴⁶ and said to them, Put ye your hearts into all the words which I witness to you today, that ye command to your sons, to keep, and to do those, and to fulfill all things that be written in the book of this law; (he said to them, Put ye into your hearts all the words which I witness to you today, so that ye command to your children to obey them, and to do them, and to fulfill all the things that be written in this Book of the Law;)

⁴⁷ for not in vain these things be commanded to you, but that all men should live in doing those things; which if ye shall do (them), then ye shall abide, and shall continue long time in the land, to which ye shall enter to wield, when (the) Jordan ye have over-passed. (for these things be not commanded to you in vain, but so that all of you should live by doing them; which if ye shall do these things, then ye shall live, and shall continue a long time in the land, which ye shall enter to take, when ye have crossed over the Jordan River.)

⁴⁸ And the Lord spake to Moses in the same day, and said, (And the Lord spoke to Moses on that same day, and said,)

⁴⁹ Go thou up into this hill Abarim, that is, passing, into the hill of Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, (over) against Jericho; and see thou the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the sons of Israel to hold, (Go thou up to the Abarim Mountains, that is, to The Passages, yea, onto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite, or east of, Jericho; and see thou the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the Israelites for their possession,)

⁵⁰ and die thou there in this hill. Into which hill thou shalt go up, and thou shalt be joined to thy peoples, as Aaron, thy brother, was dead in the hill of Hor, and was put to his peoples. (and then thou shalt die there on that mountain. Yea, thou shalt go up onto this mountain, and thou shalt join thy people, like when thy brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, and he joined his people.)

⁵¹ For ye trespassed against me, in the midst of the sons of Israel, at the Waters of Against-saying, in Kadesh, of the desert of Zin; and ye hallowed not me among the sons of Israel. (For both of you trespassed against me, before the Israelites, at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; for ye did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.)

⁵² Opposite (thee), thou shalt see the land, and thou shalt not enter into it, which I shall give to the sons of Israel. (And thou shalt look across, and see the land, but thou shalt not enter into it, yea, the land which I shall give to the Israelites.)