Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

²⁸ “For they are a nation void of counsel,
    and there is no understanding in them.
²⁹ If they were wise, they would understand this,
    they would discern their latter end!
³⁰ How should one chase a thousand,
    and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
    and the Lord had given them up?
³¹ For their rock is not as our Rock,
    even our enemies themselves being judges.
³² For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom,
    and from the fields of Gomor′rah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
    their clusters are bitter;
³³ their wine is the poison of serpents,
    and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴ “Is not this laid up in store with me,
    sealed up in my treasuries?
³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
    for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
    and their doom comes swiftly.
³⁶ For the Lord will vindicate his people
    and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
    and there is none remaining, bond or free.
³⁷ Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
    the rock in which they took refuge,
³⁸ who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
    and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
    let them be your protection!

³⁹ “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
    and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
    I wound and I heal;
    and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
⁴⁰ For I lift up my hand to heaven,
    and swear, As I live for ever,
⁴¹ if I whet my glittering sword,^[a]
    and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
    and will requite 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 long-haired heads of the enemy.’

⁴³ “Praise his people, O you nations;
    for he avenges the blood of his servants,
and takes vengeance on his adversaries,
    and makes expiation for the land of his people.”^[b]