‏ Deuteronomy 32Summary

1“Give ear, ^aO heavens, and I will speak,
and let ^bthe earth hear the words of my mouth.
2May ^cmy teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and ^dlike showers upon the herb.
3For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe ^egreatness to our God!
4 ^f“The Rock, ^ghis work is perfect,
for ^hall his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and ⁱwithout iniquity,
just and upright is he.
5They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children ^jbecause they are blemished;
they are ^ka crooked and twisted generation.
6Do you thus repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he ^lyour father, who ^mcreated you,
who ⁿmade you and established you?
7 ^oRemember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
^pask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
8When the Most High ^qgave to the nations their inheritance,
when he ^rdivided mankind,
he fixed the borders ▼

▼Or territories

of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God. ▼

▼Compare Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text sons of Israel

9But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
10“He found him ^uin a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he ^vencircled him, he cared for him,
he ^wkept him as the apple of his eye.
11 ^xLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
12 ^ythe Lord alone guided him,
^zno foreign god was with him.
13 ^aaHe made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with ^abhoney out of the rock,
and ^acoil out of ^adthe flinty rock.
14Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat ▼

▼That is,  with the best

of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest ▼

▼Hebrew  with the kidney fat

of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from ^agthe blood of the grape.
15“But ^ahJeshurun grew fat, and ^aikicked;
^ajyou grew fat, stout, and sleek;
^akthen he forsook God ^alwho made him
and scoffed at ^amthe Rock of his salvation.
16 ^anThey stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 ^aoThey sacrificed to demons that were not God,
to gods they had never known,
to ^apnew gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18You were unmindful of ^aqthe Rock that bore ▼

▼Or fathered

you,
and you ^asforgot the God who gave you birth.
19 ^at“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of ^auhis sons and his daughters.
20And he said, ^av‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 ^awThey have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger ^axwith their idols.
So ^ayI will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with ^aza foolish nation.
22For ^baa fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to ^bbthe depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23“‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
^bcI will spend my arrows on them;
24they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send ^bdthe teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of ^bethings that crawl in the dust.
25 ^bfOutdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 ^bgI would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
^bhI will wipe them from human memory,”
27had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, ^bi“Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the Lord who did all this.”’
28“For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is ^bjno understanding in them.
29 ^bkIf they were wise, they would understand this;
they would ^bldiscern their latter end!
30How could ^bmone have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock ^bnhad sold them,
and the Lord had given them up?
31For ^botheir rock is not as our Rock;
^bpour enemies are by themselves.
32For their vine ^bqcomes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of ^brpoison;
their clusters are bitter;
33their wine is the poison of ^bsserpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
34“‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
^btsealed up in my treasuries?
35 ^buVengeance is mine, and recompense, ▼

▼Septuagint  and I will repay

^bwfor the time when their foot shall slip;
for ^bxthe day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
36For ^bythe Lord will vindicate ▼

▼Septuagint judge

his people
^caand have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, ^cbbond or free.
37Then he will say, ^cc‘Where are their gods,
^cdthe rock in which they took refuge,
38who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
39“‘See now that ^ceI, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
^cfI kill and I make alive;
^cgI wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40For ^chI lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
41if I ^cisharpen my flashing sword ▼

▼Hebrew the lightning of my sword

and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and ^ckmy sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the ^cllong-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 ^cm“Rejoice with him, O heavens; ▼

▼Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text  Rejoice his people, O nations

bow down to him, all gods, ▼

▼Masoretic Text lacks bow down to him, all gods

for he ^cpavenges the blood of his children ▼

▼Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text servants

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him ▼

▼Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text lacks  He repays those who hate him

and cleanses ▼

▼Or atones for

his people’s land.” ▼

▼Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew  his land his people

44Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and ^cuJoshua ▼

▼Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew Hoshea

the son of Nun. 45And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them, ^cw“Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, ^cxthat you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47For it is no empty word for you, ^cybut your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

48That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49“Go up ^czthis mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as ^daAaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 ^dbbecause you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52For ^dcyou shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”