Deuteronomy, 32

1. Listen, heavens, while I speak; hear, earth, the words that I shall say!

1. "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2. May my teaching fall like the rain, may my word drop down like the dew, like showers on the grass, like light rain on the turf!

2. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.

3. For I shall proclaim the name of Yahweh. Oh, tell the greatness of our God!

3. For I will 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 equitable. A trustworthy God who does no wrong, he is the Honest, the Upright One!

4. "The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5. They have acted perversely, those he fathered without blemish, a deceitful and underhand brood.

5. They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6. Is this the return you make to Yahweh? O people brainless and unwise! Is this not your father, who gave you being, who made you, by whom you subsist?

6. Do you thus requite the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

7. Think back on the days of old, think over the years, down the ages. Question your father, let him explain to you, your elders, and let them tell 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 the nations each their heritage, when he partitioned out the human race, he assigned the boundaries of nations according to the number of the children of God,

8. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

9. but Yahweh's portion was his people, Jacob was to be the measure of his inheritance.

9. For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

10. In the desert he finds him, in the howling expanses of the wastelands. He protects him, rears him, guards him as the pupil of his eye.

10. "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11. Like an eagle watching its nest, hovering over its young, he spreads out his wings to hold him, he supports him on his pinions.

11. 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. Yahweh alone is his guide; no alien god for him!

12. the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him.

13. He gives him the heights of the land to ride, he feeds him on the yield of the mountains, he gives him honey from the rock to taste, and oil from the flinty crag;

13. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; and he made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.

14. curds from the cattle, milk from the flock, and the richness of the pasture, rams of Bashan's breed, and goats, the richness of the wheat kernel; the fermented blood of the grape for drink.

14. Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats, with the finest of the wheat -- and of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

15. Jacob has eaten to his heart's content, Jeshurun, grown fat, has now lashed out. (You have grown fat, gross, bloated.) He has disowned the God who made him, and dishonoured the Rock, his salvation,

15. "But Jesh'urun waxed fat, and kicked; you waxed fat, you grew thick, you became sleek; then he forsook God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

16. whose jealousy they aroused with foreigners -- with things detestable they angered him.

16. They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominable practices they provoked him to anger.

17. They sacrificed to demons who are not God, to gods hitherto unknown to them, to newcomers of yesterday whom their ancestors had never respected.

17. They sacrificed to demons which were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come in of late, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

18. (You forget the Rock who fathered you, the God who made you, you no longer remember.)

18. You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19. Yahweh saw it and, in anger, he spurned his sons and daughters.

19. "The LORD saw it, and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20. 'I shall hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what will become of them. For they are a deceitful brood, children with no loyalty in them.

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 faithfulness.

21. They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.

21. They have stirred me to jealousy with what is no god; they have provoked me with their idols. So I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people; I will provoke them with a foolish nation.

22. Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the mountains.

22. For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23. I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.

23. "`And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them;

24. They will be weakened by hunger, eaten away by plague and the bitter scourge. Against them I shall send the fang of wild animals and the poison of snakes that glide in the dust.

24. they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence; and I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with venom of crawling things of the dust.

25. Outside, the sword bereaves, while inside terror will reign. Young man and girl alike will perish, suckling and greybeard both together.

25. In the open the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.

26. I should crush them to dust, I said, I should wipe out all memory of them,

26. I would have said, "I will scatter them afar, I will make the remembrance of them cease from among men,"

27. did I not fear the boasting of the enemy.' But do not let their foes be mistaken! Do not let them say, 'We have got the upper hand and Yahweh plays no part in this.'

27. had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge amiss, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, the LORD has not wrought all this."'

28. What a short-sighted nation this is, how thoroughly imperceptive!

28. "For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.

29. Were they wise, they would succeed, they would be able to read their destiny.

29. If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end!

30. How else could one man rout a thousand, how could two put ten thousand to flight, were it not that their Rock has sold them, that Yahweh has delivered them up?

30. How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up?

31. But their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies cannot pray for us!

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

32. For their vine springs from the stock of Sodom and from the groves of Gomorrah: their grapes are poisonous grapes, their clusters are bitter;

32. For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomor'rah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter;

33. their wine is snakes' poison, the vipers' cruel venom.

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

34. But he, is he not safe with me, sealed inside my treasury?

34. "Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?

35. Vengeance is mine, I will pay them back, for the time when they make a false step. For the day of their ruin is close, doom is rushing towards them, for he will see to it that their power fails. that neither serf nor free man remains.

35. Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.

36. (For Yahweh will see his people righted, he will take pity on his servants.)

36. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free.

37. 'Where are their gods then?' he will ask, 'the rock where they sought refuge,

37. Then he will say, `Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

38. who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations?' Let these arise and help you, let these be the shelter above you!

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 I, I am he, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck, it is I who heal (no one can rescue anyone from me).

39. "`See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40. Yes, I raise my hand to heaven, and I say, 'As surely as I live for ever,

40. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear, As I live for ever,

41. When I have whetted my flashing sword, I shall enforce justice, I shall return vengeance to my foes, I shall take vengeance on my foes.

41. if I whet my glittering sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will requite those who hate me.

42. I shall make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will feed on flesh: the blood of the wounded and the prisoners, the dishevelled heads of the enemy!'

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 long-haired heads of the enemy.'

43. Heavens, rejoice with him, let all the children of God pay him homage! Nations, rejoice with his people, let God's envoys tell of his power! For he will avenge the blood of his servants, he will return vengeance to my foes, he will repay those who hate him and purify his people's country.

43. "Praise his people, O you nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people."

44. Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the people's hearing.

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

45. When Moses had finished reciting these words to all Israel,

45. And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

46. he said to them, 'Take all these words to heart; I intend them today to be evidence against you. You must order your children to keep and observe all the words of this Law.

46. he said to them, "Lay to heart all the words which I enjoin upon you this day, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law.

47. You must not think of this as empty words, for the Law is your life, and by its means you will live long in the country which you are crossing the Jordan to possess.'

47. For it is no trifle for you, but it is your life, and thereby you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess."

48. Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day and said to him,

48. And the LORD said to Moses that very day,

49. 'Climb this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, in the country of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the Canaan which I am giving to the Israelites as their domain.

49. "Ascend this mountain of the Ab'arim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho; and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel for a possession;

50. Die on the mountain you have climbed, and be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

50. and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;

51. Because, with the other Israelites, you broke faith with me at the Waters of Meribah-Kadesh in the desert of Zin, because you did not make my holiness clear to the Israelites;

51. because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Mer'i-bath-ka'desh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not revere me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.

52. you may only see the country from outside; you cannot enter it -- the country which I am giving to the Israelites.'

52. For you shall see the land before you; but you shall not go there, into the land which I give to the people of Israel."