Deuteronomy 32

1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

5 His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the blemish on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?

7 Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

9 But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

11 As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

12 The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.

13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,

14 with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

18 You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

20 He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness.

21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.

24 They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.

26 I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,

27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”

28 Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.

29 If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.

32 But 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 the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

34 “Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?

35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

36 For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

37 He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!

39 See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

40 For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,

41 when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, 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 captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”

43 Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.

44 Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.

45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,

46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

47 For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

48 On that same day the LORD said to Moses,

49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.

50 And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

51 For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.

52 Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”

1 ¶ Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4 [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.

5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot [is] not [the spot] of his children: [they are] a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? [is] not he thy father [that] hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7 ¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD'S portion [is] his people; Jacob [is] the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12 [So] the LORD alone did lead him, and [there was] no strange god with him.

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15 ¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered [with fatness]; then he forsook God [which] made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new [gods that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18 Of the Rock [that] begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19 ¶ And when the LORD saw [it], he abhorred [them], because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end [shall be]: for they [are] a very froward generation, children in whom [is] no faith.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with [those which are] not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24 [They shall be] burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs.

26 ¶ I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, [and] lest they should say, Our hand [is] high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

28 For they [are] a nation void of counsel, neither [is there any] understanding in them.

29 O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would consider their latter end!

30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?

31 For their rock [is] not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves [being] judges.

32 For 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] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34 [Is] not this laid up in store with me, [and] sealed up among my treasures?

35 To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in [due] time: for the day of their calamity [is] at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that [their] power is gone, and [there is] none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [and] drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, [and] be your protection.

39 ¶ See now that I, [even] I, [am] he, and [there is] no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither [is there any] that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; [and that] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43 Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people.

44 ¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

47 For it [is] not a vain thing for you; because it [is] your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong [your] days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, [unto] mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, that [is] over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52 Yet thou shalt see the land before [thee]; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

1 Take heed, ye heavens, I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 Let my doctrine drop as the rain, and let my speech flow as the dew, as the rain upon the grass, and as the drops upon the herb.

3 For I will praise the name of the LORD. Give glory to our God alone!

4 He is a rock. His works are blameless: for all that he doeth is right. Faithful is God, and there is no evil in him: just and upright is he.

5 The perverse and wicked manner fall from him; they are stains, and not his children.

6 Do you then give thanks to the LORD your God, you foolish and foolish people? Is he not thy Father, and thy Lord? Is it not he only that hath made thee, and prepared thee?

7 Remember the former times unto this day, and consider what he hath done for the fathers of old. Ask thy father, and he shall tell thee: thy elders, and they shall tell thee.

8 When the most High divided the nations, and scattered the children of men, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the cord of his inheritance.

10 He found him in the wilderness, in the dry desert, howling. He led him, and gave him the law. He kept him as the apple of his eye,

11 As an eagle bringeth forth his young, and soareth over them. He spread forth his wings, and took him, and bare them upon his wings.

12 The LORD alone led him, and there was no strange god with him.

13 He brought him up on high upon the earth, and fed him with the fruit of the field, and made him suck honey out of the rocks, and oil out of the hard stones,

14 Butter of the kine, and milk of the sheep, with the fat of the lambs, and fat rams, and goats with fat kidneys, and wheat, and watered him with good grape blood.

15 And when he was fat and full, he became horny. And he became fat, and fat, and strong, and hath forsaken the God that made him: he hath despised the rock of his salvation;

16 And hath provoked him to zeal by strangers; by abominations hath he provoked him to anger.

17 They have sacrificed unto the devils of the field, and not unto their God, unto gods which they knew not, unto new ones, which were not before, which your fathers did not worship.

18 Thou hast forsaken thy rock that begat thee, and hast forgotten God that made thee.

19 And when the LORD saw it, he was wroth with his sons and with his daughters.

20 And he said: I will hide my face from them, I will see what shall befall them at the last: for it is a perverse kind, they are unfaithful children.

21 They have provoked me against that which is not God: with their idolatry have they provoked me, and I will provoke them again against that which is not a people; against a foolish people will I provoke them.

22 For the fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn even to the lowest hell; and shall devour the land with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap all mischief upon them; I will shoot all mine arrows into them.

24 They shall faint with hunger, and be consumed with fever, and with sudden death. I will send the teeth of beasts among them, and the poison of serpents.

25 Outward shall the sword take them, and inward shall terror take them; both young men and virgins, babes with the gray man.

26 I will say, Where are they? I will lift up their memory among men,

27 If I spared not the wrath of the enemy, lest their enemies should be proud, and say, Our power is great, and the LORD hath not done all these things.

28 For there is a people where there is no counsel within, and there is no understanding in them.

29 O, that they might be wise, and hear these things, that they might understand the things that shall come upon them hereafter.

30 How is it that one shall chase a thousand of them, and two shall make ten thousand to flee? Is it not that she hath sold her rock, and the LORD hath delivered her up?

31 For our rock is not as their rock: our enemies themselves are judges.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the field of Gomorrha; their grapes are gall, they have bitter berries;

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the gall of fierce vipers.

34 Is not this hidden with me, and sealed up in my treasures?

35 Vengeance is mine; I will recompense. In his time shall her foot slide; For the time of her calamity is at hand, And her future hasteth on.

36 For the LORD will judge his people, and have mercy upon his servants. For he shall see that their power is gone, and that both they that are shut up and forsaken are gone.

37 And they shall say, Where are their gods, their rock, in whom they trusted?

38 Of which sacrifice they did eat fat, and drank the wine of their libation? Let them arise, and help you, and protect you!

39 See ye then that I alone am, and there is no God beside me? I can kill, and I can make alive; I can smite, and I can heal; and there is none that shall deliver out of mine hand.

40 For I will lift up my hand to heaven, and will say, I live for ever.

41 When I shall sharpen the lightning of my sword, and my hand shall take hold to punish, then will I again avenge myself upon mine enemies, and recompense them that hate me.

42 I will make mine arrows drunken with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh upon the blood of the slain, and upon the prison, and upon the uncovered head of the enemy.

43 Rejoice, all ye his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will take vengeance on his enemies, and will be gracious unto the land of his people.

44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.

45 And Moses spake all these things unto all Israel,

46 And he said unto them: Take to heart all the words which I testify unto you this day, that ye command your children to keep and do all the words of this law.

47 For it is not a vain word unto you, but it is your life: and this word shall prolong your life in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48 And the LORD spake unto Moses the same day, saying:

49 Go up to mount Abarim, to mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho, and possess the land of Canaan, which I will give unto the children of Israel for a possession,

50 And die in the mount, when thou art come up, and gather thyself unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and gathered himself unto his people,

51 Because ye sinned against me among the children of Israel at the water of odds in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, to sanctify me not among the children of Israel;

52 For thou shalt see the land against thee, which I give unto the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter therein: