19 “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be na witness for Me against the children of Israel. 20 When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves oand grown fat, pthen they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. 21 Then it shall be, qwhen many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for rI know the inclination sof their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

22 Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 23 tThen He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, u“Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, vand put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there was a witness against you; 27 xfor I know your rebellion and your ystiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing zand call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will abecome utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And bevil will befall you cin the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

32 “Give aear, O heavens, and I will speak;

And hear, O bearth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let cmy 1teaching drop as the rain,

My speech distill as the dew,

dAs raindrops on the tender herb,

And as showers on the grass.

3 For I proclaim the ename of the Lord:

fAscribe greatness to our God.

4 He is gthe Rock, hHis work is perfect;

For all His ways are justice,

iA God of truth and jwithout injustice;

Righteous and upright is He.

5 “They khave corrupted themselves;

They are not His children,

Because of their blemish:

A lperverse and crooked generation.

6 Do you thus mdeal 2with the Lord,

O foolish and unwise people?

Is He not nyour Father, who obought you?

Has He not pmade you and established you?

7 “Remember qthe days of old,

Consider the years of many generations.

rAsk your father, and he will show you;

Your elders, and they will tell you:

8 When the Most High sdivided their inheritance to the nations,

When He tseparated the sons of Adam,

He set the boundaries of the peoples

According to the number of the 3children of Israel.

9 For uthe Lord’s portion is His people;

Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

10 “He found him vin a desert land

And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;

He encircled him, He instructed him,

He wkept him as the 4apple of His eye.

11 xAs 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 ymade 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,

zWith fat of lambs;

And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,

With the choicest wheat;

And you drank wine, the ablood of the grapes.

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;

bYou grew fat, you grew thick,

You are obese!

Then he cforsook God who dmade him,

And scornfully esteemed the eRock of his salvation.

16 fThey provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;

With 5abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17 gThey sacrificed to demons, not to God,

To gods they did not know,

To new gods, new arrivals

That your fathers did not fear.

18 hOf the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,

And have iforgotten the God who fathered you.

19 “And jwhen 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,

kChildren in whom is no faith.

21 lThey have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;

They have moved Me to anger mby their 6foolish idols.

But nI will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;

I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

22 For oa fire is kindled in My anger,

And shall burn to the 7lowest 8hell;

It shall consume the earth with her increase,

And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 ‘I will pheap disasters on them;

qI 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 rteeth 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 sI 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, t“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 uOh, that they were wise, that they understood this,

That they would consider their vlatter end!

30 How could one chase a thousand,

And two put ten thousand to flight,

Unless their Rock whad sold them,

And the Lord had surrendered them?

31 For their rock is not like our Rock,

xEven our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For ytheir 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 zthe poison of serpents,

And the cruel avenom of cobras.

34 ‘Is this not blaid up in store with Me,

Sealed up among My treasures?

35 cVengeance is Mine, and recompense;

Their foot shall slip in due time;

dFor the day of their calamity is at hand,

And the things to come hasten upon them.’

36 “For ethe Lord will judge His people

fAnd have compassion on His servants,

When He sees that their power is gone,

And gthere is no one remaining, bond or free.

37 He will say: h‘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 iI, even I, am He,

And jthere is no God besides Me;

kI 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 lIf I 9whet 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, mO Gentiles, with His 1people;

For He will navenge the blood of His servants,

And render vengeance to His adversaries;

He owill provide atonement for His land and His people.”

44 So Moses came with 2Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.