Deuteronomy 32
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
32 Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth.
2 Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.
3 Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God.
4 The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.
5 They have sinned against him, and are nose of his children in their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.
6 Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?
7 Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee.
8 When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 But the Lord's portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.
12 The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with him.
13 He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone,
14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs, and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape.
15 The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.
16 They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger, with their abominations.
17 They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not.
18 Thou hast forsaken the God that beget thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee.
19 The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and daughters provoked him.
20 And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider what their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children.
21 They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which is no people, and will vex them with a foolish nation.
22 A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them.
24 They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents.
25 Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years.
26 I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease from among men.
27 But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, hath done all these things.
28 They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom.
29 O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end.
30 How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
31 For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are judges.
32 Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most bitter.
33 Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable.
34 Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my treasures?
35 Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come.
36 The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his servants: he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed.
37 And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?
38 Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your distress.
39 See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for ever.
41 If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies.
43 Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people.
44 So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the ears of the people, and Josue the son of Nun.
45 And he ended all these words, speaking to all Israel.
46 And he said to them: Set your hearts on all the words, which I testify to you this day: which you shall command your children to observe and to do, and to fulfill all that is written in this law:
47 For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.
48 And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:
49 Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,) unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain.
50 When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Her, and was gathered to his people:
51 Because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel.
52 Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.
Deuteronomy 32
New King James Version
The Song of Moses
32 “Give (A)ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O (B)earth, the words of my mouth.
2 Let (C)my [a]teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
(D)As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
3 For I proclaim the (E)name of the Lord:
(F)Ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is (G)the Rock, (H)His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
(I)A God of truth and (J)without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
5 “They(K) have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A (L)perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do you thus (M)deal[b] with the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not (N)your Father, who (O)bought you?
Has He not (P)made you and established you?
7 “Remember(Q) the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
(R)Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
8 When the Most High (S)divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He (T)separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the [c]children of Israel.
9 For (U)the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
10 “He found him (V)in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He (W)kept him as the [d]apple of His eye.
11 (X)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12 So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
13 “He(Y) made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;
14 Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
(Z)With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the (AA)blood of the grapes.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
(AB)You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he (AC)forsook God who (AD)made him,
And scornfully esteemed the (AE)Rock of his salvation.
16 (AF)They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With [e]abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 (AG)They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
18 (AH)Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have (AI)forgotten the God who fathered you.
19 “And(AJ) when the Lord saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
(AK)Children in whom is no faith.
21 (AL)They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger (AM)by their [f]foolish idols.
But (AN)I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
22 For (AO)a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the [g]lowest [h]hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 ‘I will (AP)heap disasters on them;
(AQ)I will spend My arrows on them.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the (AR)teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 (AS)I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, (AT)“Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
29 (AU)Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their (AV)latter end!
30 How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock (AW)had sold them,
And the Lord had surrendered them?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
(AX)Even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For (AY)their vine is of the vine of Sodom
And of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is (AZ)the poison of serpents,
And the cruel (BA)venom of cobras.
34 ‘Is this not (BB)laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
35 (BC)Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
(BD)For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
36 “For(BE) the Lord will judge His people
(BF)And have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power is gone,
And (BG)there is no one remaining, bond or free.
37 He will say: (BH)‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you,
And be your refuge.
39 ‘Now see that (BI)I, even I, am He,
And (BJ)there is no God besides Me;
(BK)I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
40 For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
41 (BL)If I [i]whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’
43 “Rejoice,(BM) O Gentiles, with His [j]people;
For He will (BN)avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He (BO)will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
44 So Moses came with [k]Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them: (BP)“Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your (BQ)children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a [l]futile thing for you, because it is your (BR)life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Die on Mount Nebo
48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49 (BS)“Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be [m]gathered to your people, just as (BT)Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people; 51 because (BU)you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of [n]Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you (BV)did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 (BW)Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:2 doctrine
- Deuteronomy 32:6 repay the
- Deuteronomy 32:8 LXX, DSS angels of God; Symmachus, Lat. sons of God
- Deuteronomy 32:10 pupil
- Deuteronomy 32:16 detestable acts
- Deuteronomy 32:21 foolishness, lit. vanities
- Deuteronomy 32:22 lowest part of
- Deuteronomy 32:22 Or Sheol
- Deuteronomy 32:41 sharpen
- Deuteronomy 32:43 DSS fragment adds And let all the gods (angels) worship Him; cf. LXX and Heb. 1:6
- Deuteronomy 32:44 Heb. Hoshea, Num. 13:8, 16
- Deuteronomy 32:47 vain
- Deuteronomy 32:50 Join your ancestors
- Deuteronomy 32:51 Lit. Contention at Kadesh
Deuteronomy 32
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Song of Moses
32 Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;
listen, earth, to the words from 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 the Lord’s name.(B)
Declare the greatness of our God!
4 The Rock(C) – his work is perfect;
all his ways are just.(D)
A faithful God,(E) without bias,
he is righteous and true.
5 His people have acted corruptly towards him;(F)
this is their defect[a] – they are not his children
but a devious and crooked generation.(G)
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?(H)
Isn’t he your Father and Creator?[b](I)
Didn’t he make you and sustain you?
7 Remember the days of old;
consider the years of past generations.
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[c]
and divided the human race,(J)
he set the boundaries of the peoples(K)
according to the number of the people of Israel.[d]
9 But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob, his own inheritance.(L)
10 He found him in a desolate land,
in a barren, howling wilderness;
he surrounded him, cared for him,(M)
and protected him as the pupil of his eye.(N)
11 He watches over[e] his nest like an eagle
and hovers over his young;
he spreads his wings, catches him,
and carries him on his feathers.(O)
12 The Lord alone led him,
with no help from a foreign god.
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land(P)
and eat the produce of the field.
He nourished him with honey from the rock
and oil from flinty rock,
14 curds from the herd and milk from the flock,
with the fat of lambs,
rams from Bashan,(Q) and goats,
with the choicest grains of wheat;
you drank wine from the finest grapes.[f]
15 Then[g] Jeshurun[h](R) 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 different gods;
they enraged him with detestable practices.(S)
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known,
new gods that had just arrived,
which your ancestors did not fear.(T)
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,
angered by his sons and daughters.
20 He said, ‘I will hide my face from them;(U)
I will see what will become of them,
for they are a perverse generation –
unfaithful children.
21 They have provoked my jealousy
with what is not a god;[i]
they have enraged me with their worthless idols.(V)
So I will provoke their jealousy
with what is not a people;[j]
I will enrage them with a foolish nation.(W)
22 For fire has been kindled because of my anger
and burns to the depths of Sheol;(X)
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 grey-haired man.(Y)
26 ‘I would have said: I will cut them to pieces[k]
and blot out the memory of them from mankind,(Z)
27 if I had not feared provocation 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.(AA)
29 If only they were wise, they would comprehend this;
they would understand their fate.
30 How could one pursue a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,(AB)
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the Lord had given them up?(AC)
31 But their ‘rock’ is not like our Rock,
as 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.(AD)
34 ‘Is it not stored up with me,
sealed up in my vaults?
35 Vengeance and retribution belong to me.[l](AE)
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(AF)
when he sees that their strength is gone
and no one is left – slave or free.[m]
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[n] be a shelter for you.
39 See now that I alone am he;
there is no God but me.(AG)
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal.
No one can rescue anyone from my power.(AH)
40 I raise my hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live for ever,
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold of judgement,
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.’[o]
43 Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people,[p](AI)
for he will avenge the blood of his servants.[q]
He will take vengeance on his adversaries;[r](AJ)
he will purify his land and his people.[s]
44 Moses came with Joshua[t] 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,(AK) so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully.(AL) 47 For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life,(AM) and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.’
Moses’s Impending Death
48 On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses,(AN) 49 ‘Go up Mount Nebo(AO) in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, opposite 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,(AP) just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.(AQ) 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.’(AR)
Footnotes
- 32:5 Or him; through their fault; Hb obscure
- 32:6 Or Possessor
- 32:8 Or Most High divided the nations
- 32:8 One DSS reads number of the sons of God; LXX reads number of the angels of God
- 32:11 Or He stirs up
- 32:14 Lit drank the blood of grapes, fermenting wine
- 32:15 DSS, Sam, LXX add Jacob ate his fill;
- 32:15 = Upright One, referring to Israel
- 32:21 Lit with no gods
- 32:21 Lit with no people
- 32:26 LXX reads will scatter them
- 32:35 MT; LXX reads On a day of vengeance I will repay.
- 32:36 Or left – even the weak and impaired; Hb obscure
- 32:38 Sam, LXX, Tg, Vg read them
- 32:42 Or the long-haired heads of the enemy
- 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 reads Rejoice, you heavens, along with him, and let all the angels worship him; Heb 1:6
- 32:43 DSS, LXX read sons
- 32:43 DSS, LXX add and he will repay those who hate him; v. 41
- 32:43 Syr, Tg; DSS, Sam, LXX, Vg read his people’s land
- 32:44 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Hoshea; Nm 13:8,16
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