Deuteronomy 32

1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass.3 For I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe greatness to our God.4  He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.5 They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation.6 Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?7 Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you:8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.9 For the Lords portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.10 He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.11 As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,12  So the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.13 He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock;14 Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear.18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.19 And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.20 And He said: 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 faith.21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.23 I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them.24  They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust.25 The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.26 I would have said, I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, Our hand is high; And it is not the Lord who has done all this.28 For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them.29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!30 How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had surrendered them?31 For their rock is not like 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 serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras.34  Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures?35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.36 For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.37 He will say: Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you, And be your refuge.39 Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.40 For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, As I live forever,41 If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me.42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.43 Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.44 So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel,46 and he said to them: Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observeall the words of this law.47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.

Moses to Die on Mount Nebo

48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying:49 Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession;50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;51 because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel.52 Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.

DEUTERONOMY 32

1 Earth and Sky,
listen to what I say!

2 Israel, I will teach you.
My words will be like gentle rain
on tender young plants,
or like dew on the grass.

3 Join with me in praising
the wonderful name
of the [Lord] our God.

4 The [Lord] is a mighty rock, t
and he never does wrong.
God can always be trusted
to bring justice.

5 But you lie and cheat
and are unfaithful to him.
You have disgraced yourselves
and are no longer worthy
to be his children.t

6 Israel, the [Lord] is your Father,
the one who created you,
but you repaid him
by being foolish.

7 Think about past generations.
Ask your parents
or any of your elders.
They will tell you

8  t that God Most High
gave land to every nation.
He assigned a guardian angel
to each of them, t

9 but the [Lord] himself
takes care of Israel.t

10 Israel, the [Lord] discovered you
in a barren desert
filled with howling winds.
God became your fortress,
protecting you as though
you were his own eyes.

11 The [Lord] was like an eagle
teaching its young to fly,
always ready to swoop down
and catch them on its back.

12 Israel, the [Lord] led you,
and without the aid
of a foreign god,

13 he helped you
capture the land.
Your fields were rich
with grain.
Olive trees grew
in your stony soil,
and honey was found
among the rocks.

14 Your flocks and herds
produced milk and yogurt,
and you got choice meat
from your sheep and goats
that grazed in Bashan.
Your wheat was the finest,
and you drank the best wine.

15 Israel, t you grew fat and rebelled
against God, your Creator
you rejected the Mighty Rock, t
your only place of safety.

16 You made God jealous and angry
by worshiping disgusting idols
and foreign gods.

17  t You offered sacrifices
to demons, those useless godst
that never helped you,
new gods that your ancestors
never worshiped.

18 You turned away
from God, your Creator;
you forgot the Mighty Rock, t
the source of your life.

19 You were the [Lord]'s children,
but you made him angry.
Then he rejected you

20 and said,
“You are unfaithful
and can't be trusted.
So I won't answer your prayers;
I'll just watch and see
what happens to you.

21  t You worshiped worthless idols,
and made me jealous
and angry!
Now I will send a cruelt
and worthless nation
to make you jealous and angry.

22 “My people, I will breathe out fire
that sends you down
to the world of the dead.
It will scorch your farmlands
and burn deep down
under the mountains.

23 I'll send disaster after disaster
to strike you like arrows.

24 You'll be struck by starvation
and deadly diseases,
by the fangs of wild animals
and poisonous snakes.

25 Young and old alike
will be killed in the streets
and terrified at home.

26 “I wanted to scatter you,
so no one would remember
that you had ever lived.

27 But I dreaded the sound
of your enemies saying,
‘We defeated Israel with no help
from the [Lord].’ ”

28 People of Israel,
that's what the [Lord]
has said to you.
But you don't have good sense,
and you never listen
to advice.

29 If you did, you could see
where you are headed.

30 How could one enemy soldier
chase a thousand
of Israel's troops?
Or how could two of theirs
pursue ten thousand of ours?
It can only happen if the [Lord]
stops protecting Israel
and lets the enemy win.

31 Even our enemies know
that only our God
is a Mighty Rock.t

32 Our enemies are grapevines
rooted in the fields
of Sodom and Gomorrah.t
The grapes they produce
are full of bitter poison;

33 their wine is more deadly
than cobra venom.

34 But the [Lord] has written
a list of their sins
and locked it in his vault.

35  t Soon our enemies will get
what they deservet—
suddenly they will slip,
and total disaster
will quickly follow.

36  t When only a few
of the [Lord]'s people remain,
when their strength is gone,
and some of them are slaves,
the [Lord] will feel sorry for them
and give them justice.

37 But first the [Lord] will say,
“You ran for safety to other gods—
couldn't they help you?

38 You offered them wine
and your best sacrifices.
Can't those gods help you now
or give you protection?

39 Don't you understand?
I am the only God;
there are no others.
I am the one who takes life
and gives it again.
I punished you with suffering.
But now I will heal you,
and nothing can stop me!

40 “I make this solemn promise:
Just as I live forever,

41 I will take revenge
on my hateful enemies.
I will sharpen my sword
and let it flash
like lightning.

42 My arrows will get drunk
on enemy blood;
my sword will taste the flesh
and the blood of the enemy.
It will kill prisoners,
and cut off the heads
of their leaders.”t

43  t Tell the heavens to celebrate
and all gods to bow down
to the [Lord], t
because he will take revenge
on those hateful enemies
who killed his people.
He will forgive the sins of Israel
and purify their land.t
44-45 Moses spoke the words of the song so that all the Israelites could hear, and Joshuat helped him. When Moses had finished, 46 he said, “Always remember this song I have taught you today. And let it be a warning that you must teach your children to obey everything written in The Book of God's Law.

47 The Law isn't empty words. It can give you a long life in the land that you are going to take.”

Moses Will See the Land

48  t Later that day the [Lord] said to Moses:
49 Go up into the Abarim Mountain range here in Moab across the Jordan River valley from Jericho. And when you reach the top of Mount Nebo, you will be able to see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Israel. 50 Then you will die and be buried on the mountaintop, just as your brother Aaron died and was buried on Mount Hor. 51 Both of you were unfaithful to me at Meribah Spring near Kadesh in the Zin Desert.t I am God, but there in front of the Israelites, you did not treat me with the honor and respect I deserve. 52 So I will give the land to the people of Israel, but you will only get to see it from a distance.