Deuteronomy 32

1 “Give ear a O heavens, and I will speak,
and let b the earth hear the words of my mouth.
 2 May c my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and d like showers upon the herb.
 3 For I will proclaim the name of the  Lord;
ascribe e greatness to our God!
 4  f “The Rock, g his work is perfect,
for h all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and i without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
 5 They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children j because they are blemished;
they are k a crooked and twisted generation.
 6 Do you thus repay the  Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he l your father, who m created you,
who n made you and established you?
 7  o Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
p ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
 8 When the Most High q gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he r divided 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

 9 But the  Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
 10  “He found him u in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he v encircled him, he cared for him,
he w kept him as the apple of his eye.
 11  x Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
 12  y the  Lord alone guided him,
z no foreign god was with him.
 13  aa He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with ab honey out of the rock,
and ac oil out of ad the flinty rock.
 14 Curds 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 ag the blood of the grape.
 15  “But ah Jeshurun grew fat, and ai kicked;
aj you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
ak then he forsook God al who made him
and scoffed at am the Rock of his salvation.
 16  an They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
 17  ao They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to ap new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
 18 You were unmindful of aq the Rock that bore ▼
▼ Or fathered
 you,
and you as forgot the God who gave you birth.
 19  at “The  Lord saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of au his sons and his daughters.
 20 And 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  aw They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger ax with their idols.
So ay I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with az a foolish nation.
 22 For ba a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to bb the 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;
bc I will spend my arrows on them;
 24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send bd the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of be things that crawl in the dust.
 25  bf Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
 26  bg I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
bh I will wipe them from human memory,”
 27 had 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 bj no understanding in them.
 29  bk If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would bl discern their latter end!
 30 How could bm one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock bn had sold them,
and the  Lord had given them up?
 31 For bo their rock is not as our Rock;
bp our enemies are by themselves.
 32 For their vine bq comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of br poison;
their clusters are bitter;
 33 their wine is the poison of bs serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
 34  “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
bt sealed up in my treasuries?
 35  bu Vengeance is mine, and recompense ▼
▼ Septuagint  and I will repay

bw for the time when their foot shall slip;
for bx the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
 36 For by the  Lord will vindicate ▼
▼ Septuagint judge
 his people
ca and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, cb bond or free.
 37 Then he will say cc ‘Where are their gods,
cd the rock in which they took refuge,
 38 who 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 ce I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
cf I kill and I make alive;
cg I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
 40 For ch I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
 41 if I ci sharpen 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.
 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and ck my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the cl long-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 cp avenges 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

44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and cu Joshua ▼
▼ Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew Hoshea
 the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, cw “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, cx that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, cy but 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

48 That very day the  Lord spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up cz this 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. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as da Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51  db because 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. 52 For dc you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

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