The Song of Moses

32 (A)Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!
(B)May my teaching drip as the rain,
My speech trickle as the dew,
(C)As droplets on the fresh grass,
And as the showers on the vegetation.
(D)For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
(E)Ascribe greatness to our God!
(F)The Rock! His work is perfect,
(G)For all His ways are [a]just;
(H)A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and just is He.
[b](I)They have acted corruptly against Him,
They are not His children, because of their defect;
(J)But are a perverse and crooked generation.
Is this what you (K)do to the Lord,
(L)You foolish and unwise people?
(M)Is He not your Father who has purchased you?
(N)He has made you and established you.
Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of all generations.
(O)Ask your father and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.
(P)When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of [c]mankind,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
(Q)According to the number of the [d]sons of Israel.
(R)For the Lords portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 (S)He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
He encircled him, He cared for him,
He guarded him as (T)the [e]apple of His eye.
11 (U)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
And hovers over its young,
(V)He spread His wings, He caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.
12 (W)The Lord alone guided him,
(X)And there was no foreign god with him.
13 (Y)He had him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
(Z)And He had him suck honey from the rock,
And [f](AA)oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of the herd, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and of goats,
(AB)With the best of the wheat;
And you drank wine of the (AC)blood of grapes.

15 (AD)But [g]Jeshurun became fat and kicked—
You have become fat, thick, and obstinate—
(AE)Then he abandoned God (AF)who made him,
And [h]rejected (AG)the Rock of his salvation.
16 (AH)They made Him jealous with strange gods;
(AI)With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 (AJ)They sacrificed to demons, who were not God,
(AK)To gods whom they have not known,
(AL)New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not know.
18 You forgot (AM)the Rock who fathered you,
(AN)And forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 (AO)The Lord saw this, and spurned them
(AP)Because of the provocation by His sons and daughters.
20 Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
(AQ)I will see what their end will be;
(AR)For they are a perverse generation,
(AS)Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.
21 (AT)They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their [i](AU)idols.
(AV)So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 (AW)For a fire has flared in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of [j]Sheol,
(AX)And devours the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 (AY)I will add misfortunes to them;
(AZ)I will use up My arrows on them.
24 (BA)They will be wasted by famine, and emaciated by [k]plague
(BB)And a bitter epidemic;
(BC)And the teeth of beasts I will send against them,
(BD)With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 (BE)Outside the sword will make them childless,
And inside, terror—
(BF)Both young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hair.
26 I would have said, “(BG)I will wipe them out,
(BH)I will remove the mention of [l]their name from humanity,”
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
That their adversaries would misjudge,
That they would say, “(BI)Our hand is [m]triumphant,
And the Lord has not performed all this.”’

28 (BJ)For they are a nation [n]destitute of counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.
29 (BK)If only they were wise and they understood this;
(BL)If only they would discern their [o]future!
30 (BM)How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their (BN)Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?
31 Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock;
(BO)Even our enemies [p]themselves judge this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of (BP)poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of [q]serpents,
And the [r]deadly poison of vipers.

34 (BQ)Is it not stored up with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 (BR)Vengeance is Mine, and retribution;
(BS)In due time their foot will slip.
(BT)For the day of their disaster is near,
And the impending things are hurrying to them.’
36 (BU)For the Lord will vindicate His people,
(BV)And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their [s]strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 And He will say, ‘(BW)Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge?
38 (BX)Those who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
(BY)Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your protection!
39 (BZ)See now that I, I am He,
(CA)And there is no god besides Me;
(CB)It is I who put to death and give life.
(CC)I have wounded and it is I who heal,
(CD)And there is no one who can save anyone from My hand.
40 Indeed, (CE)I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,
41 (CF)If I have sharpened [t]My flashing sword,
And My hand has taken hold of justice,
(CG)I will return vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 (CH)I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
(CI)And My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long-haired [u]leaders of the enemy.’
43 (CJ)Rejoice, you nations, with His people;
(CK)For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
(CL)And will return vengeance on His adversaries,
(CM)And will atone for His land and His people.”

44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with [v](CN)Joshua the son of Nun. 45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “(CO)Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command (CP)your sons to [w]follow carefully, all the words of this Law. 47 For it is not a [x]trivial matter for you; indeed (CQ)it is your life. And (CR)by this word you will prolong your days in the land, [y]which you are about to cross the Jordan to [z]possess.”

48 Now (CS)the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 49 (CT)Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab [aa]opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession. 50 Then you are to die on the mountain where you ascend, and be (CU)gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 (CV)because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the (CW)wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52 (CX)For you will see the land at a distance but (CY)you will not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 32:4 Or judgment
  2. Deuteronomy 32:5 Lit It has
  3. Deuteronomy 32:8 Or Adam
  4. Deuteronomy 32:8 As in MT; DSS sons of God; LXX angels of God
  5. Deuteronomy 32:10 Lit pupil
  6. Deuteronomy 32:13 I.e., olive oil
  7. Deuteronomy 32:15 I.e., Israel
  8. Deuteronomy 32:15 Lit declared void
  9. Deuteronomy 32:21 Lit nonexistent things
  10. Deuteronomy 32:22 I.e., the netherworld
  11. Deuteronomy 32:24 Lit burning heat
  12. Deuteronomy 32:26 Lit them
  13. Deuteronomy 32:27 Lit high
  14. Deuteronomy 32:28 Lit perishing of
  15. Deuteronomy 32:29 Or latter end
  16. Deuteronomy 32:31 Lit are judges
  17. Deuteronomy 32:33 Lit dragons
  18. Deuteronomy 32:33 Lit cruel
  19. Deuteronomy 32:36 Lit hand
  20. Deuteronomy 32:41 Lit the lightning of My sword
  21. Deuteronomy 32:42 Lit head
  22. Deuteronomy 32:44 Lit Hoshea
  23. Deuteronomy 32:46 Lit be careful to perform
  24. Deuteronomy 32:47 Lit empty word
  25. Deuteronomy 32:47 Lit where
  26. Deuteronomy 32:47 Lit possess it
  27. Deuteronomy 32:49 Lit which is opposite

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