Deuteronomy

The fifth book of Moses, called Deuteronomy, chapter 32, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 32 New English Translation

Invocation of Witnesses

   1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
   2 My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth.
   3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.
   4 As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright.
   5 His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children - this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.
   6 Is this how you repay the LORD, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your creator? He has made you and established you.
   7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.
   8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.
   9 For the LORD's allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession.
   10 The LORD found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
   11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the LORD spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.
   12 The LORD alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.
   13 He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields. He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,
   14 butter from the herd and milk from the flock, along with the fat of lambs, rams and goats of Bashan, along with the best of the kernels of wheat; and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.

Israel's Rebellion

   15 But Jeshurun became fat and kicked, you got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.
   16 They made him jealous with other gods, they enraged him with abhorrent idols.
   17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.
   18 You have forgotten the Rock who fathered you, and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.

A Word of Judgment

   19 But the LORD took note and despised them because his sons and daughters enraged him.
   20 He said, "I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.
   21 They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.
   22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger, and it burns to lowest Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
   23 I will increase their disasters, I will use up my arrows on them.
   24 They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
   25 The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.

The Weakness of Other Gods

   26 "I said, 'I want to cut them in pieces. I want to make people forget they ever existed.
   27 But I fear the reaction of their enemies, for their adversaries would misunderstand and say, "Our power is great, and the LORD has not done all this!"'
   28 They are a nation devoid of wisdom, and there is no understanding among them.
   29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them."
   30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, and two pursue ten thousand; unless their Rock had delivered them up, and the LORD had handed them over?
   31 For our enemies' rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.
   32 For their vine is from the stock of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.
   33 Their wine is snakes' poison, the deadly venom of cobras.
   34 "Is this not stored up with me?" says the LORD, "Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
   35 I will get revenge and pay them back at the time their foot slips; for the day of their disaster is near, and the impending judgment is rushing upon them!"
   36 The LORD will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
   37 He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,
   38 who ate the best of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise and help you; let them be your refuge!

The Vindication of the LORD

   39 "See now that I, indeed I, am he!" says the LORD, "and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist my power.
   40 For I raise up my hand to heaven, and say, 'As surely as I live forever,
   41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; I will execute vengeance on my foes, and repay those who hate me!
   42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh - the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief of the enemy's leaders!'"
   43 Cry out, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge his servants' blood; he will take vengeance against his enemies, and make atonement for his land and people.

Narrative Interlude

   44 Then Moses went with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people. 45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel 46 he said to them, "Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law. 47 For this is no idle word for you - it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Instructions about Moses' Death

   48 Then the LORD said to Moses that same day, 49 "Go up to this Abarim hill country, to Mount Nebo (which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho) and look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession. 50 You will die on the mountain that you ascend and join your deceased ancestors, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and joined his deceased ancestors, 51 for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites. 52 You will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land that I am giving to the Israelites."

King James Version

   1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
   2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
   3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
   4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
   5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
   6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
   7 ¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
   8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
   9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
   10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
   11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
   12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
   13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
   14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
   15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
   16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
   17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
   18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
   19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
   20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
   21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
   22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
   23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
   24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
   25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
   26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
   27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
   28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
   29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
   30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
   31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
   32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
   33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
   34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
   35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
   36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
   37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
   38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
   39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
   40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
   41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
   42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
   43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
   44 ¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
   45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
   46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
   47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
   48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
   49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
   50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
   51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
   52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.