Deuteronomy 32

¹ Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

² My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.

³ For I will proclaim the LORD’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!

⁴ The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

⁵ They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.

⁶ Is this the way you repay the LORD, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has 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 gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples 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, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

¹¹ As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.

¹² The LORD alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.

¹³ He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;

¹⁴ butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.

¹⁵ But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁶ They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.

¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.

¹⁸ Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ The LORD saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

²⁰ He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

²¹ They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

²² For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

²³ “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.

²⁴ They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.

²⁵ Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.

²⁶ I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;

²⁷ were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted; the LORD has not done all this.’”

²⁸ For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no 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 delivered them up?

³¹ For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.

³² For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter.

³³ Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴ “Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?

³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”

³⁶ For the LORD will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.

³⁷ He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

³⁸ which 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 I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

⁴⁰ For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,

⁴¹ if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.

⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”

⁴³ Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.

⁴⁴ Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.

⁴⁵ Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel.

⁴⁶ He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

⁴⁷ For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”

⁴⁸ The LORD spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

⁴⁹ “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession.

⁵⁰ Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, 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 of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel.

⁵² For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.”

¹ HHear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth.

² Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.

³ Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God.

⁴ The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.

⁵ They have sinned against him, and are none of his children in their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.

⁶ Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?

⁷ Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee.

⁸ When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.

⁹ But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance.

¹⁰ He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

¹¹ As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.

¹² The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with him.

¹³ He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone,

¹⁴ Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs, and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape.

¹⁵ The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.

¹⁶ They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger, with their abominations.

¹⁷ They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not.

¹⁸ Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee.

¹⁹ The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and daughters provoked him.

²⁰ And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider what their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children.

²¹ They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which is no people, and will vex them with a foolish nation.

²² A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the foundations of the mountains.

²³ I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them.

²⁴ They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents.

²⁵ Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years.

²⁶ I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease from among men.

²⁷ But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, hath done all these things.

²⁸ They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom.

²⁹ O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end.

³⁰ How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

³¹ For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are judges.

³² Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most bitter.

³³ Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable.

³⁴ Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my treasures?

³⁵ Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come.

³⁶ The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his servants: he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed.

³⁷ And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?

³⁸ Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your distress.

³⁹ See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

⁴⁰ I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for ever.

⁴¹ If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me.

⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies.

⁴³ Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will be merciful to the land of his people.

⁴⁴ So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the ears of the people, and Josue the son of Nun.

⁴⁵ And he ended all these words, speaking to all Israel.

⁴⁶ And he said to them: Set your hearts on all the words, which I testify to you this day: which you shall command your children to observe and to do, and to fulfil all that is written in this law:

⁴⁷ For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

⁴⁸ And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:

⁴⁹ Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,) unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain.

⁵⁰ When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

⁵¹ Because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the waters of contradiction, in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel.

⁵² Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.