Listen,s you heavens,t and I will speak;

hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.u

2 Let my teaching fall like rainv

and my words descend like dew,w

like showersx on new grass,

like abundant rain on tender plants.

3 I will proclaimy the name of the Lord.z

Oh, praise the greatnessa of our God!

4 He is the Rock,b his works are perfect,c

and all his ways are just.

A faithful Godd who does no wrong,

uprighte and just is he.f

5 They are corrupt and not his children;

to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.g

6 Is this the way you repayh the Lord,

you foolishi and unwise people?j

Is he not your Father,k your Creator,a

who made you and formed you?l

7 Remember the days of old;m

consider the generations long past.n

Ask your father and he will tell you,

your elders, and they will explain to you.o

8 When the Most Highp gave the nations their inheritance,

when he divided all mankind,q

he set up boundariesr for the peoples

according to the number of the sons of Israel.b s

9 For the Lord’s portiont is his people,

Jacob his allotted inheritance.u

10 In a desertv land he found him,

in a barren and howling waste.w

He shieldedx him and cared for him;

he guarded him as the apple of his eye,y

11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest

and hovers over its young,z

that spreads its wings to catch them

and carries them aloft.a

12 The Lord alone ledb him;c

no foreign god was with him.d

13 He made him ride on the heightse of the land

and fed him with the fruit of the fields.

He nourished him with honey from the rock,f

and with oilg from the flinty crag,

14 with curds and milk from herd and flock

and with fattened lambs and goats,

with choice rams of Bashanh

and the finest kernels of wheat.i

You drank the foaming blood of the grape.j

15 Jeshurunc k grew fatl and kicked;

filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.

They abandonedm the God who made them

and rejected the Rockn their Savior.

16 They made him jealouso with their foreign gods

and angeredp him with their detestable idols.

17 They sacrificedq to false gods,r which are not God—

gods they had not known,s

gods that recently appeared,t

gods your ancestors did not fear.

18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;

you forgotu the God who gave you birth.

19 The Lord saw this and rejected themv

because he was angered by his sons and daughters.w

20 “I will hide my facex from them,” he said,

“and see what their end will be;

for they are a perverse generation,y

children who are unfaithful.z

21 They made me jealousa by what is no god

and angered me with their worthless idols.b

I will make them envious by those who are not a people;

I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.c

22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,d

one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.e

It will devourf the earth and its harvestsg

and set afire the foundations of the mountains.h

23 “I will heap calamitiesi on them

and spend my arrowsj against them.

24 I will send wasting faminek against them,

consuming pestilencel and deadly plague;m

I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,n

the venom of viperso that glide in the dust.p

25 In the street the sword will make them childless;

in their homes terrorq will reign.r

The young men and young women will perish,

the infants and those with gray hair.s

26 I said I would scattert them

and erase their name from human memory,u

27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,

lest the adversary misunderstandv

and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;

the Lord has not done all this.’ ”w

28 They are a nation without sense,

there is no discernmentx in them.

29 If only they were wise and would understand thisy

and discern what their end will be!z

30 How could one man chase a thousand,

or two put ten thousand to flight,a

unless their Rock had sold them,b

unless the Lord had given them up?c

31 For their rock is not like our Rock,d

as even our enemies concede.e

32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodomf

and from the fields of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are filled with poison,g

and their clusters with bitterness.h

33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,

the deadly poison of cobras.i

34 “Have I not kept this in reserve

and sealed it in my vaults?j

35 It is mine to avenge;k I will repay.l

In due time their foot will slip;m

their day of disaster is near

and their doom rushes upon them.n”

36 The Lord will vindicate his peopleo

and relentp concerning his servantsq

when he sees their strength is gone

and no one is left, slaver or free.d

37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,

the rock they took refuge in,s

38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?t

Let them rise up to help you!

Let them give you shelter!

39 “See now that I myself am he!u

There is no god besides me.v

I put to deathw and I bring to life,x

I have wounded and I will heal,y

and no one can deliver out of my hand.z

40 I lift my handa to heaven and solemnly swear:

As surely as I live forever,b

41 when I sharpen my flashing swordc

and my hand grasps it in judgment,

I will take vengeanced on my adversaries

and repay those who hate me.e

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,f

while my sword devours flesh:g

the blood of the slain and the captives,

the heads of the enemy leaders.”

43 Rejoice,h you nations, with his people,e,f

for he will avenge the blood of his servants;i

he will take vengeance on his enemiesj

and make atonement for his land and people.k