Deuteronomy 32–34

Song of Moses

32Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;

listen, earth, to the words of my mouth. ^t

²Let my teaching fall like rain

and my word settle like dew,

like gentle rain on new grass

and showers on tender plants.

³For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name. ^u

Declare the greatness of our God!

⁴The Rock ^v—His work is perfect;

all His ways are entirely just. ^w

A faithful God, ^xwithout prejudice,

He is righteous and true.

⁵His people have acted corruptly toward Him; ^y

this is their defect ^z—they are not His children

but a devious and crooked generation. ^a

⁶Is this how you repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people? ^b

Isn’t He your Father and Creator? ^c

Didn’t He make you and sustain you?

⁷Remember the days of old;

consider the years long past.

Ask your father, and he will tell you,

your elders, and they will teach you.

⁸When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance ^d

and divided the human race, ^e

He set the boundaries of the peoples ^f

according to the number of the people of Israel. ^g

⁹But the Lord’s portion is His people,

Jacob, His own inheritance. ^h

¹⁰He found him in a desolate land,

in a barren, howling wilderness;

He surrounded him, cared for him, ⁱ

and protected him as the pupil of His eye. ^j

¹¹He watches over ^kHis nest like an eagle

and hovers over His young;

He spreads His wings, catches him,

and lifts him up on His pinions. ^l

¹²The Lord alone led him,

with no help from a foreign god. ^m

¹³He made him ride on the heights of the land ⁿ

and eat the produce of the field.

He nourished him with honey from the rock

and oil from flint-like rock,

¹⁴cream from the herd and milk from the flock,

with the fat of lambs,

rams from Bashan, ^oand goats,

with the choicest grains of wheat;

you drank wine from the finest grapes. ^p

¹⁵Then ^qJeshurun ^rsbecame fat and rebelled—

you became fat, bloated, and gorged.

He abandoned the God who made him

and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁶They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods;

they enraged Him with detestable practices. ^t

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not God,

to gods they had not known,

new gods that had just arrived,

which your fathers did not fear. ^u

¹⁸You ignored the Rock who gave you birth;

you forgot the God who gave birth to you.

¹⁹When the Lord saw this, He despised them,

provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

²⁰He said: “I will hide My face from them; ^v

I will see what will become of them,

for they are a perverse generation—

unfaithful children.

²¹They have provoked My jealousy

with their so-called gods; ^w

they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. ^x

So I will provoke their jealousy

with an inferior people; ^y

I will enrage them with a foolish nation. ^z

²²For fire has been kindled because of My anger

and burns to the depths of Sheol; ^a

it devours the land and its produce,

and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

²³“I will pile disasters on them;

I will use up My arrows against them.

²⁴They will be weak from hunger,

ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;

I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs,

as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.

²⁵Outside, the sword will take their children,

and inside, there will be terror;

the young man and the young woman will be killed,

the infant and the gray-haired man. ^b

²⁶“I would have said: I will cut them to pieces ^c

and blot out the memory of them from mankind, ^d

²⁷if I had not feared insult from the enemy,

or feared that these foes might misunderstand

and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed;

it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’ ”

²⁸Israel is a nation lacking sense

with no understanding at all. ^ef

²⁹If only they were wise, they would figure it out;

they would understand their fate.

³⁰How could one man pursue a thousand,

or two put ten thousand to flight, ^g

unless their Rock had sold them,

unless the Lord had given them up? ^h

³¹But their “rock” is not like our Rock;

even our enemies concede.

³²For their vine is from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are poisonous;

their clusters are bitter.

³³Their wine is serpents’ venom,

the deadly poison of cobras. ⁱ

³⁴“Is it not stored up with Me,

sealed up in My vaults?

³⁵Vengeance ^jbelongs to Me; I will repay. ^kl

In time their foot will slip,

for their day of disaster is near,

and their doom is coming quickly.”

³⁶The Lord will indeed vindicate His people

and have compassion on His servants ^m

when He sees that their strength is gone

and no one is left—slave or free.

³⁷He will say: “Where are their gods,

the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?

³⁸Who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?

Let them rise up and help you;

let it ⁿbe a shelter for you.

³⁹See now that I alone am He;

there is no God but Me. ^o

I bring death and I give life;

I wound and I heal.

No one can rescue anyone from My hand. ^p

⁴⁰I raise My hand to heaven and declare:

As surely as I live forever,

⁴¹when I sharpen My flashing sword,

and My hand takes hold of judgment,

I will take vengeance on My adversaries

and repay those who hate Me.

⁴²I will make My arrows drunk with blood

while My sword devours flesh—

the blood of the slain and the captives,

the heads of the enemy leaders.” ^q

⁴³Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people, ^rs

for He will avenge the blood of His servants. ^t

He will take vengeance on His adversaries; ^uv

He will purify His land and His people. ^w

⁴⁴Moses came with Joshua ^xson of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people. ⁴⁵After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, ^yso that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. ^z47For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, ^aand by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Moses’ Impending Death

⁴⁸On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses, ^b49“Go up Mount Nebo ^cin the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession. ⁵⁰Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, ^djust as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. ^e51For both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence. ⁵²Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there.” ^f

Moses’ Blessings

33This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death. ^g2He said:

The Lord came from Sinai

and appeared to them from Seir; ^h

He shone on them from Mount Paran ⁱ

and came with ten thousand holy ones, ^j

with lightning ^kfrom His right hand ^lfor them. ^m

³Indeed He loves the people. ^no

All Your ^pholy ones ^qare in Your hand,

and they assemble ^rat Your feet.

Each receives Your words.

⁴Moses gave us instruction,

a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

⁵So He became King in Jeshurun ^st

when the leaders of the people gathered

with the tribes of Israel.

⁶Let Reuben live and not die

though his people become few. ^u

⁷He said this about Judah:

Lord, hear Judah’s cry and bring him to his people.

He fights for his cause ^vwith his own hands,

but may You be a help against his foes.

⁸He said about Levi:

Your Thummim and Urim ^wbelong to Your faithful one; ^x

You tested him at Massah

and contended with him at the waters of Meribah. ^y

⁹He said about his father and mother,

“I do not regard them.”

He disregarded his brothers

and didn’t acknowledge his sons,

for they kept Your word

and maintained Your covenant. ^z

¹⁰They will teach Your ordinances to Jacob

and Your instruction to Israel; ^a

they will set incense before You

and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

¹¹Lord, bless his possessions, ^b

and accept the work of his hands.

Smash the loins of his adversaries and enemies,

so that they cannot rise again.

¹²He said about Benjamin:

The Lord’s beloved rests ^csecurely on Him.

He ^dshields him all day long,

and he rests on His shoulders. ^e

¹³He said about Joseph:

May his land be blessed by the Lord

with the dew of heaven’s bounty

and the watery depths that lie beneath; ^f

¹⁴with the bountiful harvest from the sun

and the abundant yield of the seasons;

¹⁵with the best products of the ancient mountains

and the bounty of the eternal hills; ^g

¹⁶with the choice gifts of the land

and everything in it;

and with the favor of Him

who appeared ^hin the burning bush. ⁱ

May these rest on the head of Joseph,

on the crown of the prince of his brothers. ^j

¹⁷His firstborn bull has ^ksplendor,

and horns like ^lthose of a wild ox;

he gores all the peoples with them

to the ends of the earth.

Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

and such are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸He said about Zebulun:

Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys,

and Issachar, in your tents.

¹⁹They summon the peoples to a mountain;

there they offer acceptable sacrifices.

For they draw from the wealth of the seas

and the hidden treasures of the sand. ^m

²⁰He said about Gad:

The one who enlarges Gad’s territory

will be blessed.

He lies down like a lion

and tears off an arm or even a head. ⁿ

²¹He chose the best part for himself,

because a ruler’s portion was assigned there for him.

He came with the leaders of the people;

he carried out the Lord’s justice

and His ordinances for Israel. ^o

²²He said about Dan:

Dan is a young lion,

leaping out of Bashan. ^p

²³He said about Naphtali:

Naphtali, enjoying approval,

full of the Lord’s blessing,

take ^qpossession to the west and the south.

²⁴He said about Asher:

May Asher ^rbe the most blessed of the sons;

may he be the most favored among his brothers

and dip his foot in olive oil. ^st

²⁵May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze,

and your strength last as long as you live.

²⁶There is none like the God of Jeshurun, ^u

who rides the heavens to your aid,

the clouds in His majesty. ^v

²⁷The God of old is your dwelling…