DEUTERONOMY 32 “Give ear,  k O heavens, and I will speak,

and let  l the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 May  m my teaching drop as the rain,

my speech distill as the dew,

like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

and  n like showers upon the herb.

3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;

ascribe  o greatness to our God!

4[†]  p “The Rock,  q his work is perfect,

for  r all his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and  s without iniquity,

just and upright is he.

5[^][†] They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children  t because they are blemished;

they are  u a crooked and twisted generation.

6[^][†] Do you thus repay the LORD,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he  v your father, who  w created you,

who  x made you and established you?

7[†]  y Remember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

 z ask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

8[†] When the Most High  a gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he  b divided mankind,

he fixed the borders [1] of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God. [2]

9 But the LORD’s portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

10 “He found him  c in a desert land,

and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he  d encircled him, he cared for him,

he  e kept him as the apple of his eye.

11[†]  f 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  g the LORD alone guided him,

 h no foreign god was with him.

13  i He made him ride on the high places of the land,

and he ate the produce of the field,

and he suckled him with  j honey out of the rock,

and  k oil out of  l the flinty rock.

14[†] Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat [3] of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the very finest [4] of the wheat—

and you drank foaming wine made from  m the blood of the grape.

15[†] “But  n Jeshurun grew fat, and  o kicked;

 p you grew fat, stout, and sleek;

 q then he forsook God  r who made him

and scoffed at  s the Rock of his salvation.

16  t They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17  u They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

to gods they had never known,

to  v new gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

18 You were unmindful of  w the Rock that bore [5] you,

and you  x forgot the God who gave you birth.

19  y “The LORD saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of  z his sons and his daughters.

20[†] And he said,  a ‘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[^][†]  b They have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger  c with their idols.

So  d I will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with  e a foolish nation.

22[†] For  f a fire is kindled by my anger,

and it burns to  g 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;

 h I will spend my arrows on them;

24 they shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured by plague

and poisonous pestilence;

I will send  i the teeth of beasts against them,

with the venom of  j things that crawl in the dust.

25  k Outdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

26  l I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

 m 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,  n “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  o no understanding in them.

29[†]  p If they were wise, they would understand this;

they would  q discern their latter end!

30[†] How could  r one have chased a thousand,

and two have put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock  s had sold them,

and the LORD had given them up?

31 For  t their rock is not as our Rock;

 u our enemies are by themselves.

32 For their vine  v comes from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of  w poison;

their clusters are bitter;

33 their wine is the poison of  x serpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,

 y sealed up in my treasuries?

35[†]  z Vengeance is mine, and recompense, [6]

 a for the time when their foot shall slip;

for  b the day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

36 For  c the LORD will vindicate [7] his people

 d and have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining,  e bond or free.

37 Then he will say,  f ‘Where are their gods,

 g 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  h I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

 i I kill and I make alive;

 j I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For  k I lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

41 if I  l sharpen my flashing sword [8]

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  m my sword shall devour flesh—

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

from the  n long-haired heads of the enemy.’

43[†]  o “Rejoice with him, O heavens; [9]

bow down to him, all gods, [10]

for he  p avenges the blood of his children [11]

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him [12]

and cleanses [13] his people’s land.” [14]

44Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and  q Joshua [15] the son of Nun. 45And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46[†]he said to them,  r “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today,  s that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47For it is no empty word for you,  t but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

48[†]That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49[†]“Go up  u 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. 50And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as  v Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 w 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. 52For  x 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.”