Old/New Testament
32 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak.
Let the earth hear the sayings from my mouth.
2 Let my teaching drop down like rain,
and let my sayings distill like dew,
like raindrops on grass,
like showers on green plants.
3 Yes, I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is the Rock! Perfect is his work.
Indeed all of his ways are justice.
He is a faithful God. He does no wrong.
Righteous and upright is he.
5 Israel acted corruptly against him.
They are not his children.
That is their fault.[a]
They are a twisted and crooked generation.
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish people, who are not wise?
Is he not your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
7 Remember the days of the distant past.
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father and he will tell you about it.
Ask your elders and they will describe it to you.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the children of Adam,
he established the boundaries for peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.[b]
9 But the allotment for the Lord is his people.
Jacob is the territory that is his possession.
10 The Lord found Jacob in a wild land,
in a desolate land, in a howling wasteland.
He encircled him. He cared for him.
He guarded him like the pupil of his eye.
11 As an eagle rises from its nest
and hovers over its young,
then spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on the edge of its wings,
12 so the Lord alone led Israel.
There was no foreign god with him.
13 He caused them to ride over the high places of the land,
and they ate the produce from the fields.
He caused them to suck honey from the rocks
and olive oil from the hardest flint.
14 He fed them with curds from the cattle and milk from the flocks,
with fat lambs, rams, and goats from Bashan,
with the very best wheat,
and they drank foaming wine, the blood of the grape.
15 Jeshurun[c] grew fat and kicked.
You grew fat, you were stout, you were stuffed.
Then he abandoned the God who made him,
and he mocked the Rock who saved him.
16 They made him jealous with strange gods.
They provoked him with abominations.
17 They sacrificed to demons that are not gods,
to gods they had not known,
to newcomers from their neighbors,
gods whom your fathers did not fear.
18 You failed to remember the Rock who conceived you.
You forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 The Lord saw this and rejected them,
because his sons and daughters had provoked him.
20 So the Lord said:[d]
I will hide my face from them,
until I see what their final condition will be,
because they are a twisted generation,
children who cannot be trusted.
21 They have made me jealous with their non-gods.
They have provoked me with their useless things.
So I will make them jealous by a non-people.
By a foolish nation I will provoke them.
22 For a fire has been ignited by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of hell.[e]
It devours the earth and its produce.
It sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
23 I will pile up disasters for them.
I will use up all my arrows on them.
24 They will be sucked dry by hunger and burned up by fever.
I will send them bitter destruction.
Wild animals will sink their teeth into them
with the burning venom of snakes that crawl in the dust.
25 In the street the sword will take away their children.
Inside the houses terror will fill young man and
young woman alike,
the nursing child, together with the gray-haired old man.
26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces.
I will erase their memory from mankind,”
27 if I had not dreaded the taunting of the enemy.
I did not want their adversaries to misunderstand.
I did not want them to say,
“Our hand is high-and-mighty,
and the Lord has not done any of this.”
28 For they are a nation that never takes advice,
and they understand nothing.
29 If only they had been wise,
they would have comprehended this.
They would have understood
what the final outcome would be.
30 How could one pursue a thousand,
and two chase away ten thousand,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the Lord had handed them over?
31 Yes, their rock is not like our Rock,
as our enemies themselves recognize.
32 For their vine grows from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison grapes.
They have bitter clusters.
33 Their wine is burning snake venom
and the deadly poison of cobras.
34 Do I not have all this stored up with me?
Is this not sealed up in my storehouses?
35 To me belongs vengeance and repayment.
It will come at the time when their foot slips.
Indeed, the day of their disaster is near,
and their impending doom is coming quickly.
36 Yes, the Lord will judge his people,
but he will change his course of action toward his servants
when he sees that their strength is exhausted,
and that there are none left, either as prisoners or still free.
37 Then he will say:
Where are their gods,
the rock in which they sought refuge,
38 the gods that ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you.
Let them be a shelter over you.
39 Now see that I, only I, am he,
and there is not a god comparable to me.
I put to death and I make alive.
I wound and I heal.
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and I swear: “As I live forever,
41 if I sharpen the lightning, which is my sword,
and my hand grabs hold of judgment,
I will take revenge against my adversaries,
and I will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh
from the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.”
43 Shout out with a cry of joy, you nations, because of his people,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants,[f]
and he will return vengeance to his adversaries,
but he will atone for the ground, for his people.
44 Moses came along with Hoshea[g] son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
45 Then when Moses had finished speaking all of these words to all Israel, 46 he also said to them:
“Direct your heart to all the words that I am calling as a witness against you today. Instruct your children with them so that they may be careful to carry out all the words of this law, 47 for it is not empty talk for you, because it is your life. By this word you will live long on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
48 On this same day the Lord spoke to Moses:
49 “Go up to Mount Nebo, this mountain of the Abarim range, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan that I am giving to the people of Israel as a possession, 50 and die on the mountain that you are about to ascend and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. 51 This will happen because you broke faith with me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, by not treating me as holy among the people of Israel. 52 You may view the land from a distance, but you will not go into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
The Blessings of Moses
33 The following is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said:
The Lord came from Sinai,
and from Seir he rose like the sun for them.
He was shining from Mount Paran,
and he came with ten thousand holy ones.
From his right hand a fiery law[h] flew at them.
3 Indeed, you love the peoples.
All his holy ones are in your hand.
They are seated[i] at your feet.
Each one rises after hearing your words.
4 Moses commanded a law for us
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 The Lord was King in Jeshurun,[j]
when the heads of the people gathered
together with the tribes of Israel.
6 May Reuben live and not die,
but may his men be few in number.[k]
7 Concerning Judah he said this:
Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
and bring him to his people.
With his own hands he fights for them,
and you will be a help against his enemies.
8 Concerning Levi he said:
Your Thummim and your Urim belong to your favored man,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.
9 He said about his father and mother,
“I do not recognize them.”
He did not show regard for his own brother.
He did not acknowledge his own children.
Instead he protected your word,
and he guarded your covenant.
10 The Levites will teach your judgments to Jacob.
They will teach your law to Israel.
They will burn incense for you to smell.
They will offer whole offerings upon your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his strength,
and accept the work of his hands.
Cripple those who rise against him.
Prevent those who hate him from rising against him.
12 Concerning Benjamin he said:
Those loved by the Lord will dwell with him safely.
He will be a canopy over them all day.
They will rest securely against his chest.[l]
13 Concerning Joseph he said:
His land is blessed by the Lord:
blessed with the best gifts from the heavens,
blessed with dew and with the deep waters hidden below,
14 blessed with the best gifts produced by the sun,
blessed with the best gifts yielded by the seasons,
15 blessed with the best crops from the ancient mountains,
blessed with the best gifts from the everlasting hills,
16 blessed with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness,
blessed with the favor of the one who was dwelling in
the burning bush.
May all these come on the head of Joseph,
on the forehead of the one set apart from his brothers.
17 Like a firstborn bull, he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a wild ox.
With them he will gore the peoples,
all the peoples, to the ends of the earth.
Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim.
Such are the thousands of Manasseh.
18 Concerning Zebulun he said:
Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go out.
Rejoice, Issachar, in your tents.
19 They will call people to the mountain.
There they will sacrifice righteous offerings.
Indeed they will nurse on the abundance from the seas
and on the treasures hidden in the sand.
20 Concerning Gad he said:
Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad.
Like a lioness he settles down.
He tears off arms and even heads.
21 He selected the best portion for himself,
the portion reserved for the ruler.
He came with heads of the people
to carry out the righteousness of the Lord,
to carry out his judgments along with Israel.
22 Concerning Dan he said:
Dan is a lion cub.
He leaps out from Bashan.
23 Concerning Naphtali he said:
Naphtali is abounding with favor.
He is full of the blessing of the Lord.
Take possession of the west[m] and south.
24 Concerning Asher he said:
The most blessed of sons is Asher.
May he be pleasing to his brothers.
May he bathe his feet in olive oil.
25 Your door bolts are iron and bronze.
May your strength be as long-lasting as all your days.
26 There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to help you.
In his majesty he rides through the clouds.
27 The everlasting God is a dwelling place,
and his eternal arms are under you.
He drove out[n] the enemy in front of you,
and he said, “Destroy!”
28 So Israel settled down in safety.
Jacob dwelt in security
in a land of grain and fresh wine,
and, yes, its heavens dropped down dew.
29 How blessed are you, O Israel!
Who is like you?
You are a people saved by the Lord,
the shield who gives you help,
the sword who gives you majesty.
Your enemies will come cringing before you,
and you will trample on their high places.
The Death of Moses
34 Moses went up from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: the territory of Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, the whole land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,[o] 3 the Negev, and the Kikkar as far as Zoar (that is, the plain in the valley around Jericho, the City of Palms).
4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when I said I will give it to your descendants.[p] I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over to it.”
5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 6 The Lord buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.
7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old at his death. His eyes had not grown dim, and his vigor had not declined. 8 So the children of Israel wept for Moses in the Arabah of Moab for thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit[q] of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, so the people of Israel listened to him and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
10 Never again has a prophet risen in Israel like Moses, who knew the Lord face-to-face. 11 Moses performed all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh and against all his officials and his whole land. 12 No other prophet ever displayed all of the mighty power and the great, awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
26 The superscription stating the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.[a]
29 Those who passed by ridiculed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself! Come down from the cross!”
31 In the same way, the chief priests along with the experts in the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said. “He cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross so that we may see and believe!”
Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
Jesus’ Death
33 When it was the sixth hour,[b] darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.[c] 34 At the ninth hour Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”[d]
35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah!”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. They said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he cried out and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and served him. Many other women also came up with him to Jerusalem.
Jesus’ Burial
42 It was already evening, and since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43 Joseph from Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had been dead for a long time. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, and wrapped him in the linen cloth. He laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where the body was laid.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.