The Song of Moses

1 “aGive ear, O heavens, and let me speak;

And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 “aLet my teaching drop as the rain,

My speech distill as the dew,

bAs the droplets on the fresh grass

And as the showers on the herb.

3 “aFor I proclaim the name of the Lord;

bAscribe greatness to our God!

4 “aThe Rock! His work is perfect,

bFor all His ways are 1just;

cA God of faithfulness and without injustice,

Righteous and upright is He.

5 “1aThey have acted corruptly toward Him,

They are not His children, because of their defect;

bBut are a perverse and crooked generation.

6 “Do you thus arepay the Lord,

bO foolish and unwise people?

cIs not He your Father who has bought you?

dHe has made you and established you.

7 “Remember the days of old,

Consider the years of all generations.

aAsk your father, and he will inform you,

Your elders, and they will tell you.

8 “aWhen the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,

When He separated the sons of 1man,

He set the boundaries of the peoples

bAccording to the number of the sons of Israel.

9 “aFor the Lord’s portion is His people;

Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

10 “aHe found him in a desert land,

And in the howling waste of a wilderness;

He encircled him, He cared for him,

He guarded him as bthe pupil of His eye.

11 “aLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,

That hovers over its young,

bHe spread His wings and caught them,

He carried them on His pinions.

12 “aThe Lord alone guided him,

bAnd there was no foreign god with him.

13 “aHe made him ride on the high places of the earth,

And he ate the produce of the field;

bAnd He made him suck honey from the rock,

And coil from the flinty rock,

14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,

With fat of lambs,

And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,

aWith the finest of the wheat—

And of the bblood of grapes you drank wine.

15 “aBut 1Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—

You are grown fat, thick, and sleek—

bThen he forsook God cwho made him,

And scorned dthe Rock of his salvation.

16 “aThey made Him jealous with strange gods;

bWith abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17 “aThey sacrificed to demons who were not God,

bTo gods whom they have not known,

cNew gods who came lately,

Whom your fathers did not dread.

18 “You neglected athe Rock who begot you,

bAnd forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 “aThe Lord saw this, and spurned them

bBecause of the provocation of His sons and daughters.

20 “Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,

aI will see what their end shall be;

bFor they are a perverse generation,

cSons in whom is no faithfulness.

21 ‘aThey have made Me jealous with what is not God;

They have provoked Me to anger with their 1bidols.

cSo I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;

I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

22 aFor a fire is kindled in My anger,

And burns to the lowest part of 1Sheol,

bAnd consumes the earth with its yield,

And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 ‘aI will heap misfortunes on them;

bI will use My arrows on them.

24 ‘aThey will be wasted by famine, and consumed by 1plague

bAnd bitter destruction;

cAnd the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,

dWith the venom of crawling things of the dust.

25 ‘aOutside the sword will bereave,

And inside terror—

bBoth young man and virgin,

The nursling with the man of gray hair.

26 ‘I would have said, “aI will cut them to pieces,

bI will remove the memory of them from men,”

27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,

That their adversaries would misjudge,

That they would say, “aOur hand is 1triumphant,

And the Lord has not done all this.” ’

28 “aFor they are a nation 1lacking in counsel,

And there is no understanding in them.

29 “aWould that they were wise, that they understood this,

bThat they would discern their 1future!

30 “aHow could one chase a thousand,

And two put ten thousand to flight,

Unless their bRock had sold them,

And the Lord had given them up?

31 “Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,

aEven our enemies 1themselves judge this.

32 “For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

And from the fields of Gomorrah;

Their grapes are grapes of apoison,

Their clusters, bitter.

33 “Their wine is the venom of 1serpents,

And the 2deadly poison of cobras.

34 ‘aIs it not laid up in store with Me,

Sealed up in My treasuries?

35 ‘aVengeance is Mine, and retribution,

bIn due time their foot will slip;

cFor the day of their calamity is near,

And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

36 “aFor the Lord will vindicate His people,

bAnd will have compassion on His servants,

When He sees that their 1strength is gone,

And there is none remaining, bond or free.

37 “And He will say, ‘aWhere are their gods,

The rock in which they sought refuge?

38 ‘aWho ate the fat of their sacrifices,

And drank the wine of their drink offering?

bLet them rise up and help you,

Let them be your hiding place!

39 ‘aSee now that I, I am He,

bAnd there is no god besides Me;

cIt is I who put to death and give life.

dI have wounded and it is I who heal,

eAnd there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

40 ‘Indeed, aI lift up My hand to heaven,

And say, as I live forever,

41 aIf I sharpen My 1flashing sword,

And My hand takes hold on justice,

bI will render vengeance on My adversaries,

And I will repay those who hate Me.

42 ‘aI will make My arrows drunk with blood,

bAnd My sword will devour flesh,

With the blood of the slain and the captives,

From the long-haired 1leaders of the enemy.’

43 “aRejoice, O nations, with His people;

bFor He will avenge the blood of His servants,

cAnd will render vengeance on His adversaries,

dAnd will atone for His land and His people.”

44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with 1aJoshua the son of Nun.

45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

46 he said to them, “aTake to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command byour sons to observe 1carefully, even all the words of this law.

47 “For it is not an idle word for you; indeed ait is your life. And bby this word you will prolong your days in the land, 1which you are about to cross the Jordan to 2possess.”

48 aThe Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,

49 “aGo up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab 1opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.

50 “Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be agathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

51 abecause you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the bwilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.

52 “aFor you shall see the land at a distance, but byou shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”