Deuteronomy 32:1–43

“Give ear, ^kO heavens, and I will speak,

and let ^lthe earth hear the words of my mouth.

²May ^mmy teaching drop as the rain,

my speech distill as the dew,

like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

and ⁿlike showers upon the herb.

³For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

ascribe ^ogreatness to our God!

^4p“The Rock, ^qhis work is perfect,

for ^rall his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and ^swithout iniquity,

just and upright is he.

⁵They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children ^tbecause they are blemished;

they are ^ua crooked and twisted generation.

⁶Do you thus repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he ^vyour father, who ^wcreated you,

who ^xmade you and established you?

^7yRemember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

^zask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

⁸When the Most High ^agave to the nations their inheritance,

when he ^bdivided mankind,

he fixed the borders¹ of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.²

⁹But the Lord’s portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰“He found him ^cin a desert land,

and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he ^dencircled him, he cared for him,

he ^ekept him as the apple of his eye.

^11fLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,

that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

bearing them on its pinions,

^12gthe Lord alone guided him,

^hno foreign god was with him.

¹³ⁱHe made him ride on the high places of the land,

and he ate the produce of the field,

and he suckled him with ^jhoney out of the rock,

and ^koil out of ^lthe flinty rock.

¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat³ of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the very finest⁴ of the wheat—

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

¹⁵“But ⁿJeshurun grew fat, and ^okicked;

^pyou grew fat, stout, and sleek;

^qthen he forsook God ^rwho made him

and scoffed at ^sthe Rock of his salvation.

^16tThey stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

^17uThey sacrificed to demons that were not God,

to gods they had never known,

to ^vnew gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

¹⁸You were unmindful of ^wthe Rock that bore⁵ you,

and you ^xforgot the God who gave you birth.

^19y“The Lord saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of ^zhis sons and his daughters.

²⁰And 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.

^21bThey have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger ^cwith their idols.

So ^dI will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with ^ea foolish nation.

²²For ^fa fire is kindled by my anger,

and it burns to ^gthe 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;

^hI will spend my arrows on them;

²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured by plague

and poisonous pestilence;

I will send ⁱthe teeth of beasts against them,

with the venom of ^jthings that crawl in the dust.

^25kOutdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

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

^mI will wipe them from human memory,”

²⁷had 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 ^ono understanding in them.

^29pIf they were wise, they would understand this;

they would ^qdiscern their latter end!

³⁰How could ^rone have chased a thousand,

and two have put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock ^shad sold them,

and the Lord had given them up?

³¹For ^ttheir rock is not as our Rock;

^uour enemies are by themselves.

³²For their vine ^vcomes from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of ^wpoison;

their clusters are bitter;

³³their wine is the poison of ^xserpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

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

^ysealed up in my treasuries?

^35zVengeance is mine, and recompense,⁶

^afor the time when their foot shall slip;

for ^bthe day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

³⁶For ^cthe Lord will vindicate⁷ his people

^dand have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining, ^ebond or free.

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

^gthe rock in which they took refuge,

³⁸who 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 ^hI, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

ⁱI kill and I make alive;

^jI wound and I heal;

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

⁴⁰For ^kI lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

⁴¹if I ^lsharpen my flashing sword⁸

and my hand takes hold on judgment,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

and will repay those who hate me.

⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and ^mmy sword shall devour flesh—

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

from the ⁿlong-haired heads of the enemy.’

^43o“Rejoice with him, O heavens;⁹

bow down to him, all gods,¹⁰

for he ^pavenges the blood of his children¹¹

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him¹²

and cleanses¹³ his people’s land.”¹⁴