Deuteronomy 32

Modern

Literal

The Song of Moses

¹Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

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

²Let my teaching fall like rain

and my speech settle like dew,

like gentle rain on new grass,

like showers on tender plants.

²Let my teaching drop like rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass.

³For I will proclaim the name of the LORD.

Ascribe greatness to our God!

³For the name of YHWH I proclaim; ascribe greatness to our God.

⁴He is the Rock, His work is perfect;

all His ways are just.

A God of faithfulness without injustice,

righteous and upright is He.

⁴The Rock—perfect His work is, for all His ways are just; a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

⁵His people have acted corruptly toward Him;

the blemish on them is not that of His children,

but of a perverse and crooked generation.^a

⁵They have corrupted themselves; because of their blemish they are not His sons, a generation perverse and crooked.

⁶Is 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?

⁶Is it even to YHWH that you would act this way, O people foolish and unwise? Is not He your Father who created you, He who made you and established you?

⁷Remember the days of old;

consider the years long past.

Ask your father, and he will tell you,

your elders, and they will inform you.

⁷Remember the days of old, consider the years of generation upon generation. Ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.

⁸When 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.^a

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

⁹But the LORD’s portion is His people,

Jacob His allotted inheritance.

⁹For YHWH's portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

¹⁰He found him in a desert land,

in a barren, howling wilderness;

He surrounded him, He instructed him,

He guarded him as the apple^a of His eye.

¹⁰He found him in a desert land, and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the pupil of His eye.

¹¹As an eagle stirs up its nest

and hovers over its young,

He spread His wings to catch them

and carried them on His pinions.^a

¹¹As an eagle stirs up his nest, he hovers over his young, he spreads his wings, he takes him, he carries him upon his pinions,

¹²The LORD alone led him,

and no foreign god was with him.

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

¹³He 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,

¹³He made him ride on the heights of the earth, that he might eat the fruits of the field. And He made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock,

¹⁴with 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.

¹⁴curds of the herd and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the sons of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

¹⁵But Jeshurun^a grew fat and kicked—

becoming fat, bloated, and gorged.

He abandoned the God who made him

and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁵And Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—you grew fat, you grew thick, you gorged—and he forsook God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁶They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods;

they enraged Him with abominations.

¹⁶They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not to God,

to gods they had not known,

to newly arrived gods,

which your fathers did not fear.

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known. New ones—from the vicinity they came—that your fathers did not fear.

¹⁸You ignored the Rock who brought you forth;

you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁸The Rock who brought you forth you neglected, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹When the LORD saw this, He rejected them,

provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

¹⁹And YHWH saw it, and He spurned them, from the provocation of His sons and His daughters.

²⁰He 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.

²⁰And He said, “I will hide My face from them, I shall see what is their end; for a perverse generation are they, sons in whom is no faithfulness.

²¹They 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;^a

I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.^b

²¹They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. And I will provoke them to jealousy by those not a people; by a foolish nation I will anger them.

²²For 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.

²²For a fire is kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, and it shall consume the earth and its yield, and scorch the foundations of the mountains.

²³I will heap disasters upon them;

I will spend My arrows against them.

²³I will heap upon them disasters; My arrows I will spend on them:

²⁴They 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.

²⁴Wasted by famine and devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send against them, with the poison of fearful things of the dust.

²⁵Outside, 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.

²⁵Outside the sword will bereave, and inside shall be terror for the young man and virgin, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

²⁶I would have said that I would cut them to pieces

and blot out their memory from mankind,

²⁶I said I would dash them in pieces, I would remove their memory from among men,

²⁷if 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.’”

²⁷if I had not feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is high, and it is not YHWH who has done all this.’”

²⁸Israel is a nation devoid of counsel,

with no understanding among them.

²⁸For they are a nation void of counsel, and in them there is no understanding.

²⁹If only they were wise, they would understand it;

they would comprehend their fate.

²⁹If only they were wise, that they understood this, they would consider their latter end!

³⁰How 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?

³⁰How does one pursue a thousand, and two put to flight a myriad, if not that their Rock had sold them and YHWH had surrendered them?

³¹For their rock is not like our Rock,

even our enemies concede.^a

³¹For their rock is not like our Rock, and our enemies themselves are judges.

³²But their vine is from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are poisonous;

their clusters are bitter.

³²For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.

³³Their wine is the venom of serpents,

the deadly poison of cobras.

³³The poison of serpents is their wine, and the cruel venom of cobras.

³⁴“Have I not stored up these things,

sealed up within My vaults?

³⁴“Is not this laid up with Me, sealed up among My treasures?

³⁵Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.^a

In due time their foot will slip;

for their day of disaster is near,

and their doom is coming quickly.”

³⁵Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In time their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come upon them hurry.”

³⁶For the LORD will vindicate His people^a

and have compassion on His servants

when He sees that their strength is gone

and no one remains, slave or free.

³⁶For YHWH will judge His people, and on His servants have compassion, when He sees that the power is gone, and there is no one, slave or free.

³⁷He will say: “Where are their gods,

the rock in which they took refuge,

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

³⁸which 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!

³⁸that ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise and help you and be for you a shelter.

³⁹See 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.

³⁹See now that I—I am He—and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and from My hand none can deliver.

⁴⁰For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare:

As surely as I live forever,

⁴⁰For I lift up My hand to the heavens and say, as I live forever,

⁴¹when 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.

⁴¹if I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will turn back vengeance to My enemies and those who hate Me I will repay.

⁴²I 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.”

⁴²I will make drunk My arrows with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and captives, from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.”

⁴³Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him.^a

Rejoice, O nations, with His people;^b

for He will avenge the blood of His children.^c

He will take vengeance

on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him;^d

He will cleanse His land

and His people.

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

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

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

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

⁴⁵And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

⁴⁶he 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.

⁴⁶and He said to them, “Set your hearts on all the words that I testify among you today, which you shall command your sons to be careful to do—all the words of this law.

⁴⁷For 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.”

⁴⁷For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong days in the land that there you are passing over the Jordan to possess it.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

⁴⁸On that same day the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁸And YHWH spoke to Moses this same day, saying,

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.

⁴⁹“Go up into this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel as a possession.

⁵⁰And 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.

⁵⁰And die on the mountain that you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

⁵¹For 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.

⁵¹upon that you trespassed against Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, upon that you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the sons of Israel.

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

⁵²Yet from a distance you shall see the land, and there you shall not go into the land that I am giving to the sons of Israel.”