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Deuteronomy 32
Lexham English Bible
Deuteronomy 32
Lexham English Bible
The Song of Moses
32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching trickle like the dew,
my words like rain showers on tender grass,
and like spring showers on new growth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just;
he is a faithful God, and without injustice;[a]
righteous and upright is he.
5 They have behaved corruptly toward[b] him;
they are not his children; this is their flaw,
a generation crooked and perverse.
6 Like this do you treat Yahweh,
foolish and unwise[c] people?
Has he not, your father, created you?
He made you, and he established you.
7 Remember the old days, the years long past;[d]
ask your father, and he will inform you,
your elders and they will tell you.[e]
8 When the Most High apportioned[f] the nations,
at his dividing up of the sons of humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples,
according to the number of the children of Israel.[g]
9 For Yahweh’s portion was his people,
Jacob the share of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land,
and in a howling, desert wasteland;
he encircled him,[h] he cared for him,
he protected him like the apple[i] of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young,
spreads out its wings, takes them,[j]
carries them[k] on its pinions,[l]
12 so Yahweh alone guided him,[m]
and there was no foreign god accompanying him.[n]
13 And he set him on the high places of the land,
and he fed him the crops[o] of the field,
and he nursed him with honey from crags,[p]
and with oil from flinty rock,
14 With curds[q] from the herd,
and with milk from the flock,
with the fat of young rams,
and rams, the offspring of Bashan,
and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat,
and from the blood of grapes[r] you drank fermented wine.[s]
15 And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked;
you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate;
and he abandoned God, his maker,
and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation.
16 They made him jealous with strange gods;
with detestable things they provoked him.
17 They sacrificed to the demons, not God,
to gods whom[t] they had not known,
new gods who[u] came from recent times;
their ancestors had not known them.[v]
18 The rock who[w] bore you, you neglected,
and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.
19 Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what will be their end,
for they are a generation of perversity,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.[x]
21 They annoyed me with what is not a god;
they provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those not a people,
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.
22 For a fire was kindled[y] by my anger,
and it burned up to the depths of Sheol,[z]
and it devoured the earth and its produce,
and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters upon them;
my arrows I will spend on them.
24 They will become weakened by famine,
and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence;
and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them,
with the poison of the creeping things in the dust;
25 From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless,
and from inside, terror;
both for the young man and also the young woman,
the infant along with the gray-headed man.
26 I thought, “I will wipe them out;
I will make people forget they ever existed.”[aa]
27 If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy,
lest their foes might misunderstand, [ab]
lest they should say, [ac] “Our hand is
triumphant,[ad] and Yahweh did not do all this.”’
28 For they are a nation void of sense,[ae]
and there is not any understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern for themselves their end.[af]
30 How could one chase a thousand
and two could cause a myriad to flee,
if their Rock had not sold them,
and Yahweh had not given them up?
31 For the fact of the matter is,
their rock is not like our Rock,
and our enemies recognize[ag] this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
and from the terraces of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter.[ah]
33 Their wine is the poison of snakes,
and the deadly poison of horned vipers.
34 ‘Is not this stored up with me,
sealed in my treasuries?’[ai]
35 Vengeance belongs to me[aj] and also recompense,
for at the time their foot slips,[ak]
because the day of their disaster is near,
and fate comes quickly for them.’[al]
36 For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people,
and concerning his servants;
he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and there is no one left, confined[am] or free.[an]
37 And he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
their rock in whom[ao] they took refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up, and let them help you;
Let them be to you a refuge.[ap]
39 See, now, that I, even I am he,
and there is not a god besides me;
I put to death and I give life;
I wound and I heal;
there is not one who delivers from my hand!
40 For indeed I lift up my hand to heaven,
And I promise as I live forever,[aq]
41 When I sharpen[ar] my flashing sword,[as]
and my hand takes hold[at] of it in judgment,
I will take reprisals against my foes,[au]
and my haters I will repay.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain,
and captives[av] from the heads[aw] of the leaders of the enemy.’
43 Call for songs of joy, O nations, concerning his people,[ax]
for the blood of his servants he will avenge,
and he will take reprisals against his foes,[ay]
and he will make atonement for his land, his people.”
44 And Moses came, and he spoke[az] all the words of this song in the ears of the people; that is, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses finished speaking[ba] all these words to all Israel, 46 then he said to them, “Take to heart all the words[bb] that I am admonishing against you today[bc] concerning which you should instruct them with respect to your children[bd] so that they will observe diligently[be] all the words of this law, 47 for it is not a trifling matter among you, but it is your life, and through this word you will live long in the land[bf] that you are about to cross the Jordan to get there to take possession of it.”
Instructions Concerning Moses’ Death
48 And Yahweh said to Moses on exactly this day, saying,[bg] 49 “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim range, Mount Nebo, which is opposite Jericho,[bh] and see the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites[bi] as a possession. 50 You shall die on that mountain that you are about to go up there, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor[bj] and he was gathered to his people, 51 because of the fact that you broke faith with me in the midst of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the desert of Zin, because you did not treat me as holy[bk] in the midst of the Israelites.[bl] 52 Yes, from afar you may view the land, but there you shall not enter there, that is, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”[bm]
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:4 Literally “there is not injustice”
- Deuteronomy 32:5 Or “with”
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Literally “not wise”
- Deuteronomy 32:7 Literally “the years of from generation to generation”
- Deuteronomy 32:7 Hebrew “to you”
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Literally “In/at the apportioning of the Most High”
- Deuteronomy 32:8 LXX reads “the number of the angels of God”; Dead Sea Scrolls reads “the number of the sons of God”
- Deuteronomy 32:10 Literally “moved around him”
- Deuteronomy 32:10 Literally “pupil”
- Deuteronomy 32:11 Hebrew “it” but used poetically and with plural sense in context
- Deuteronomy 32:11 Hebrew “it” but used poetically and with plural sense in context
- Deuteronomy 32:11 Hebrew “pinion”
- Deuteronomy 32:12 That is, Jacob, standing for Israel
- Deuteronomy 32:12 Literally “and there was not with him a god foreign/strange”
- Deuteronomy 32:13 Hebrew “crop”
- Deuteronomy 32:13 Hebrew “crag”
- Deuteronomy 32:14 Hebrew “curd”
- Deuteronomy 32:14 Hebrew “grape”
- Deuteronomy 32:14 Or “partially fermented wine”; others translate simply as wine (NASB, NEB); HALOT 330, “still fermenting wine”
- Deuteronomy 32:17 Hebrew “them”
- Deuteronomy 32:17 Hebrew “they,” understood in the verb form
- Deuteronomy 32:17 Literally “their fathers not knew them”
- Deuteronomy 32:18 Hebrew “he,” understood in verb form
- Deuteronomy 32:20 Literally “sons not faithfulness is in them”
- Deuteronomy 32:22 Or “ignited”
- Deuteronomy 32:22 Literally “up to Sheol depths”
- Deuteronomy 32:26 Literally “I will blot out from among human being their remembrance”
- Deuteronomy 32:27 Or “so that they not make a false construal” of what has happened
- Deuteronomy 32:27 Or “so that they might not”
- Deuteronomy 32:27 Literally “raised/held high”
- Deuteronomy 32:28 Literally “they a nation perishing of counsel”
- Deuteronomy 32:29 Literally “they would discern for end their”
- Deuteronomy 32:31 The meaning of this expression is uncertain, but “discerns” or “judges” seem good choices; see HALOT 932, which allows for “judges” or “in the estimation of our enemies”
- Deuteronomy 32:32 Literally “clusters of bitter are for them”
- Deuteronomy 32:34 Or “storehouses
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Literally “To me is vengeance”
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Literally “at the time when it shall slip foot their”
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Literally “and comes quickly/hurries events to come to them”
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Or “bond/bound”
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Or “freed”
- Deuteronomy 32:37 Hebrew “in him”
- Deuteronomy 32:38 Literally “let there be/him/them unto you as a shelter”
- Deuteronomy 32:40 Literally “live I to eternity”
- Deuteronomy 32:41 Or “have sharpened”
- Deuteronomy 32:41 Literally “the flashing of my sword”
- Deuteronomy 32:41 Or “seizes”
- Deuteronomy 32:41 Literally “I will let return vengeance to foes my”
- Deuteronomy 32:42 Hebrew “captive”
- Deuteronomy 32:42 Hebrew “head”
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Dead Sea Scrolls reads: “Rejoice, O heavenly ones, with him! Bow down, all you gods, before him!”
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Literally “vengeance he will let return to his foes”
- Deuteronomy 32:44 Or “recited”
- Deuteronomy 32:45 Literally “And he finished Moses to speak”
- Deuteronomy 32:46 Literally “Put heart your to all the words”
- Deuteronomy 32:46 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 32:46 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 32:46 Literally “to keep to do”
- Deuteronomy 32:47 Literally “you will make long days on the land”
- Deuteronomy 32:48 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 32:49 Literally “on the face of Jericho”
- Deuteronomy 32:49 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 32:50 Literally “on Hor the mountain”
- Deuteronomy 32:51 Literally “that not you treated me as holy”
- Deuteronomy 32:51 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 32:52 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
Deuteronomy 32
New International Version
Deuteronomy 32
New International Version
32 Listen,(A) you heavens,(B) and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.(C)
2 Let my teaching fall like rain(D)
and my words descend like dew,(E)
like showers(F) on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.
3 I will proclaim(G) the name of the Lord.(H)
Oh, praise the greatness(I) of our God!
4 He is the Rock,(J) his works are perfect,(K)
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God(L) who does no wrong,
upright(M) and just is he.(N)
5 They are corrupt and not his children;
to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.(O)
6 Is this the way you repay(P) the Lord,
you foolish(Q) and unwise people?(R)
Is he not your Father,(S) your Creator,[a]
who made you and formed you?(T)
7 Remember the days of old;(U)
consider the generations long past.(V)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.(W)
8 When the Most High(X) gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,(Y)
he set up boundaries(Z) for the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.[b](AA)
9 For the Lord’s portion(AB) is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.(AC)
10 In a desert(AD) land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.(AE)
He shielded(AF) him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,(AG)
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,(AH)
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.(AI)
12 The Lord alone led(AJ) him;(AK)
no foreign god was with him.(AL)
13 He made him ride on the heights(AM) of the land
and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,(AN)
and with oil(AO) from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan(AP)
and the finest kernels of wheat.(AQ)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.(AR)
15 Jeshurun[c](AS) grew fat(AT) and kicked;
filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned(AU) the God who made them
and rejected the Rock(AV) their Savior.
16 They made him jealous(AW) with their foreign gods
and angered(AX) him with their detestable idols.
17 They sacrificed(AY) to false gods,(AZ) which are not God—
gods they had not known,(BA)
gods that recently appeared,(BB)
gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot(BC) the God who gave you birth.
19 The Lord saw this and rejected them(BD)
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.(BE)
20 “I will hide my face(BF) from them,” he said,
“and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,(BG)
children who are unfaithful.(BH)
21 They made me jealous(BI) by what is no god
and angered me with their worthless idols.(BJ)
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.(BK)
22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,(BL)
one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.(BM)
It will devour(BN) the earth and its harvests(BO)
and set afire the foundations of the mountains.(BP)
23 “I will heap calamities(BQ) on them
and spend my arrows(BR) against them.
24 I will send wasting famine(BS) against them,
consuming pestilence(BT) and deadly plague;(BU)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,(BV)
the venom of vipers(BW) that glide in the dust.(BX)
25 In the street the sword will make them childless;
in their homes terror(BY) will reign.(BZ)
The young men and young women will perish,
the infants and those with gray hair.(CA)
26 I said I would scatter(CB) them
and erase their name from human memory,(CC)
27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest the adversary misunderstand(CD)
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
the Lord has not done all this.’”(CE)
28 They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment(CF) in them.
29 If only they were wise and would understand this(CG)
and discern what their end will be!(CH)
30 How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,(CI)
unless their Rock had sold them,(CJ)
unless the Lord had given them up?(CK)
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,(CL)
as even our enemies concede.(CM)
32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom(CN)
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are filled with poison,(CO)
and their clusters with bitterness.(CP)
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.(CQ)
34 “Have I not kept this in reserve
and sealed it in my vaults?(CR)
35 It is mine to avenge;(CS) I will repay.(CT)
In due time their foot will slip;(CU)
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them.(CV)”
36 The Lord will vindicate his people(CW)
and relent(CX) concerning his servants(CY)
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave(CZ) or free.[d]
37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,(DA)
38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?(DB)
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!
39 “See now that I myself am he!(DC)
There is no god besides me.(DD)
I put to death(DE) and I bring to life,(DF)
I have wounded and I will heal,(DG)
and no one can deliver out of my hand.(DH)
40 I lift my hand(DI) to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,(DJ)
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword(DK)
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance(DL) on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.(DM)
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,(DN)
while my sword devours flesh:(DO)
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
43 Rejoice,(DP) you nations, with his people,[e][f]
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;(DQ)
he will take vengeance on his enemies(DR)
and make atonement for his land and people.(DS)
44 Moses came with Joshua[g](DT) son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 When Moses 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,(DU) so that you may command(DV) your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you—they are your life.(DW) By them you will live long(DX) in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Die on Mount Nebo
48 On that same day the Lord told Moses,(DY) 49 “Go up into the Abarim(DZ) Range to Mount Nebo(EA) in Moab, across from Jericho,(EB) and view Canaan,(EC) the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50 There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die(ED) and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died(EE) on Mount Hor(EF) and was gathered to his people. 51 This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh(EG) in the Desert of Zin(EH) and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.(EI) 52 Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance;(EJ) you will not enter(EK) the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Or Father, who bought you
- Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God
- Deuteronomy 32:15 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.
- Deuteronomy 32:36 Or and they are without a ruler or leader
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Or Make his people rejoice, you nations
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) people, / and let all the angels worship him, /
- Deuteronomy 32:44 Hebrew Hoshea, a variant of Joshua
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