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Deuteronomy 32

1

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

1
2

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3

Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5

They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6

Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8

When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9

For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12

So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13

He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15

But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16

They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18

Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

1
19

And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21

They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23

I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24

They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25

The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26

I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.

28

For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29

O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

31

For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32

For their 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 the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34

Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36

For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37

And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38

Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40

For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41

If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42

I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

44

And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45

And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

46

And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

47

For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48

And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49

Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50

And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

51

Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah–Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52

Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

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Deuteronomy 32

The Song of Moses (Haazinu) stands as the biblical text's supreme poetic meditation on covenant history, moving from the invocation of heaven and earth as witnesses through Israel's growth and apostasy to God's hidden face and ultimate vindication. The theologically sophisticated poetry celebrates the LORD as a Rock whose works are perfect, Israel's discovery of God in the desert, the people's growth, self-satisfaction, and kicking against the goad, and God's hiding of his face in response to Israel's apostasy. The song's vision of the LORD's vengeance on Israel's enemies and vindication of his people, with the nations called to rejoice with God's people, eschatologically restores what appears broken and establishes ultimate divine triumph even through Israel's suffering. The affirmation I kill and make alive, I wound and I heal establishes the LORD as sovereign over death and life, theodicy itself, and the final restoration, while the song's citation in Revelation 15 as the song of the Lamb applies its promise of vindication to Christ's resurrection and the church's final triumph. This song encodes the entire covenantal narrative—call, blessing, apostasy, judgment, restoration—in memorable verse designed for communal recitation and theological formation.

Deuteronomy 32:35

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; because the day of their calamity is near, and their doom comes swiftly

Deuteronomy 32:36

Indeed, the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining

Deuteronomy 32:37

Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge

Deuteronomy 32:38

Who ate the fat of their offerings, and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!

Deuteronomy 32:39

See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand — monotheistic assertion ('ani ani hu'): exclusive divinity. God alone kills and makes alive ('aharog v'achayeh'), wounds and heals ('atzim v-erpah'). No god rivals God's power.

Deuteronomy 32:40

For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear: As I live forever

Deuteronomy 32:41

When I whet my flashing sword, and my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me

Deuteronomy 32:42

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 long-haired enemy

Deuteronomy 32:43

Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him, all you gods! For he avenges the blood of his children; he takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for his land and his people — the doxology: heavens and 'gods' (divine council) praise God ('ronnu goyim amo'). God avenges ('nakam dam avadav') and expiates ('yichapper admato amo'). Cosmic worship closes the song.

Deuteronomy 32:44

Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun — the completion of the Song of Moses is presented as a joint act of Moses and Joshua, the outgoing and incoming leaders of the covenant community standing together to deliver the song that will serve as witness against Israel in future generations. The pairing of Moses and Joshua in this moment communicates the continuity of leadership despite the generational transition — the song belongs not only to Moses' generation but to every generation that Joshua will lead into the land and beyond. The phrase all the words of this song (kol-divrei hashira hazot) emphasizes the completeness of the transmission: nothing is abbreviated or summarized, the whole song is recited in full so that the people have no excuse for not knowing its warnings. The public nature of the recitation — in the hearing of the people — fulfills the command of 31:19 and 31:22 to teach the song to the Israelites so that it may be a witness for the LORD against them.

Deuteronomy 32:45

And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them — the formulaic transition marks the end of the Song of Moses and the beginning of Moses' final direct address to the people, the last words of instruction he will speak before ascending Nebo to die. The phrase all these words (kol-hadevarim ha'elleh) encompasses not only the song but the entire body of Mosaic teaching — the three addresses, the law code, and the song — which together constitute the torah that Moses has been delivering since 1:1. Moses finishing speaking is a significant structural marker in Deuteronomy, echoing the pattern by which each of his three addresses reaches a formal conclusion — this final completion signals that the law has been fully transmitted and the covenant fully renewed. The gathered community of all Israel is the appropriate audience for the last words, since the covenant obligations are corporate and the song's warnings apply to every generation.

Deuteronomy 32:46

Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law — Moses' final pedagogical instruction presses the same intergenerational transmission theme that has run through Deuteronomy since the Shema (6:7: teach them to your children). The phrase take to heart (simu levavkhem) is not an emotional appeal but a cognitive and volitional command: place these words in the seat of your decision-making, internalize them at the level where choices are made. The generational chain — parents to children — ensures that the covenant is not a one-generation agreement but a living tradition requiring active transmission. The command to be careful to do (lishmor la'asot) maintains the Deuteronomic insistence that hearing and teaching are incomplete without the doing — the words must move from heart to community to obedient action.

Deuteronomy 32:47

For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess — Moses' final word before the blessing and his death is that the torah is not a burden or an imposition but life itself: the word is not empty (lo-davar req hu mikkhem) because it is your very life (ki-hu hayyeikhem). The torah is not a legal code appended to life from the outside but the charter of life given by the God who is life's source and the community's sustainer. The connection between keeping the torah and long life in the land (ha'aretz asher attem overim et-hayarden shamma lerish'tah) echoes the covenant's recurring promise structure — the land is the gift, life in the land is the blessing, and both are mediated through obedience to the word. These words of Moses serve as the theological frame for the entire Pentateuch: the law is not a means of earning favor but the revealed pattern of flourishing for a people who already belong to the God who loves them — and Moses' final breath will be spent, appropriately, in seeing the land he could not enter.

Deuteronomy 32:48

That very day the LORD spoke to Moses: Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession — that very day signals the immediacy of what follows: Moses completes the Song and delivers his final charge, and on the same day the LORD gives the command to ascend to his death. The precise geographical identification of Nebo — in the Abarim range, in Moab, opposite Jericho — serves as a topographical witness to the event, grounding Moses' death in a specific, locatable place. The word view (re'eh) — the same root as the visionary seeing of the prophets — communicates that Moses' final act will be one of divinely granted prophetic vision: he will see the whole of the promised land from its mountain height before dying. The juxtaposition of giving — I am giving to the people of Israel — with Moses' exclusion from that gift is the painful theological tension the passage sustains without resolving.

Deuteronomy 32:49

And view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession, and die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people — the pairing of Moses' death with Aaron's death on Mount Hor creates a brotherly symmetry in the Pentateuch's conclusion: both brothers end their wilderness leadership by ascending a mountain and dying there, neither crossing the Jordan. The phrase be gathered to your people (he'aseph el-ammeikha) is the Pentateuch's euphemism for death that carries within it the implication of an afterlife reunion — gathered suggests a community of the deceased to which one joins. The description of Canaan as the land the LORD is giving to the people of Israel for a possession while Moses is simultaneously commanded to die there and not enter it holds both the gift and the exclusion in a single sentence without softening either. Aaron's precedent suggests that Moses' death, like Aaron's, is not merely punishment but the ordered completion of a ministry that the next generation will carry forward.

Deuteronomy 32:50

Because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel — the reason for Moses' exclusion from the land is stated with the same spare language as in Numbers 20:12 and 27:14: breaking faith (ma'al) and failure to sanctify the LORD (lo-qiddashtuni) before the congregation at Meribah-kadesh. The Hebrew ma'al carries the sense of covenant treachery — a violation of trust within the covenant relationship — a remarkably strong word to use of the greatest prophet Israel ever knew. The phrase in the midst of the people of Israel appears twice, emphasizing that the failure was public: it was the communal nature of the event that made the stakes so high, since the holiness of God must be upheld before the entire covenant community. Moses dies knowing why — there is no ambiguity or arbitrary divine caprice — and the clarity of the reason is itself an act of divine faithfulness, even in judgment.

Deuteronomy 32:51

Because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel — this verse in several textual traditions forms a close parallel restatement of v.50's reason clause, reinforcing the gravity of the Meribah failure by the repetition that characterizes Hebrew legal and liturgical language. The wilderness of Zin as the specific location grounds the judgment in a historically verifiable event rather than a general character indictment — Moses' exclusion from the land is tied to a specific moment, a specific place, a specific failure. The dual accusation — breaking faith and failing to sanctify — captures both the relational dimension (trust violated) and the liturgical dimension (the holy character of God not upheld before the watching congregation) of what happened at Meribah. The seriousness of the judgment against Moses communicates the Pentateuch's consistent insistence that proximity to God increases rather than decreases accountability.

Deuteronomy 32:52

For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel — the closing verse of the chapter holds Moses' final fate in perfect tension: he will see (tir'eh) but not enter (lo-tavo). The seeing is not a consolation prize but a genuine act of divine grace — the LORD shows Moses the whole of the land that his life's work has been directed toward, gives him the prophetic vision of the inheritance even as the inheritance itself is withheld. The phrase the land that I am giving to the people of Israel (ha'aretz asher ani noten livnei yisrael) closes the chapter with the same covenantal giving-language that has characterized Deuteronomy throughout — the land is the LORD's gift, Israel is the recipient, and Moses is the agent who brought them to the threshold. The verse prepares for chapter 34, where the vision is enacted and Moses' death is narrated — the end of the greatest human career in the Pentateuch, sealed in grace and judgment simultaneously.

Deuteronomy 32:10

He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he shielded him and cared for him, and guarded him as the apple of his eye

Deuteronomy 32:11

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions — parental care is eagle-like ('k'nesher ikaror kinno'): stirring the nest awakens the young to flight. God teaches Israel independence.

Deuteronomy 32:12

The LORD alone guided him; no foreign god was with him — exclusive guidance ('YHVH levado nehaho'): covenant monotheism. Foreign gods have no role ('el nechar lo itho').

Deuteronomy 32:13

He made him ride on the heights of the land, and fed him with produce of the field; he suckled him with honey from the crags, and oil from flinty rock

Deuteronomy 32:14

Curds of cattle and milk of flocks, with fat of lambs and rams; Bashan bulls and goats, with the finest wheat; and the foaming wine of grapes, you drank — pastoral and agricultural abundance: dairy, meat, grain, wine ('chemah anavim tishte').

Deuteronomy 32:15

Jacob ate his fill, Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation — 'Jeshurun' (the upright one) became 'fat and kicked' ('va-yis'man Yeshrun va-yisgat'). Satiation led to apostasy ('va-yit'os et El asahu'). The covenant reversed.

Deuteronomy 32:16

They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abhorrent things they angered him — apostasy ('yak'ishuhu b'zarim'): strange gods trigger God's jealous anger ('ka'as otho b'to'avot'). Jealousy ('kin'a') is covenant language: violation of exclusive loyalty.

Deuteronomy 32:17

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never known, to new gods recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared

Deuteronomy 32:18

You forgot the God who gave you birth; you disregarded the God who labored for you

Deuteronomy 32:19

The LORD saw it, and spurned them, because of the anger of his sons and daughters — God sees apostasy ('va-yar YHVH va-yinatzal'). Rejection ('va-yim'as') follows. Divine anger targets the guilty children.

Deuteronomy 32:20

He said: I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness — hiddenness ('astirah panai'): divine withdrawal. 'Perverse generation' ('dor tahpukhot'), faithless children ('asher ein ba'hem emunah'). The hiding of the face is judgment.

Deuteronomy 32:21

They made me jealous with what is not God, angered me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with what is not a people, anger them with a foolish nation — divine jealousy turns punitive: Israel's idolatry ('hiknisu'ni baklo-el') triggers God's counter-jealousy. God will use a 'non-people' ('goy lo-am': possibly Rome) to punish. Paul quotes this passage (Romans 10:19, 11:11) regarding gentile inclusion.

Deuteronomy 32:22

For a fire is kindled by my anger, and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains — God's wrath is fire ('ki-esh kadata be'api'): cosmic burning. The underworld ('sh'ol') itself burns ('ud'dshonot eretz'). Total destruction.

Deuteronomy 32:23

I will heap disasters upon them, spend my arrows on them

Deuteronomy 32:24

Wasting hunger and burning consumption, and bitter pestilence. The teeth of beasts I will send against them, with venom of things crawling in the dust

Deuteronomy 32:25

In the street the sword shall bereave them; in their homes, terror. Young man and woman alike, nursing child and graybeard — warfare exterior ('ba-chuts teshakol cherev'), terror interior ('u-vabayt emet'). All ages affected: young and old, children and elders. Comprehensive loss.

Deuteronomy 32:26

I thought to scatter them and blot out the memory of them from humankind

Deuteronomy 32:27

But I feared the taunt of the enemy, that their adversaries might misunderstand and say, 'Our hand is triumphant; it was not the LORD who did all this' — God's restraint: concern for his name ('pen-yonu oyev'). Enemy might misattribute victory ('va-yomru yadeinu gavahlah'). God's honor is the check on complete destruction.

Deuteronomy 32:28

They are a nation void of sense; there is no understanding in them — the enemy is foolish ('hen goy avad etzah'): no discernment ('ein ba'hem tevunah'). Enemy lacks moral perception.

Deuteronomy 32:29

If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern what their end would be!

Deuteronomy 32:30

How could one have routed a thousand, and two put a myriad to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up?

Deuteronomy 32:31

Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies themselves being judges

Deuteronomy 32:32

Their vine comes from the vineyard of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter

Deuteronomy 32:33

Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps — idolatrous drink is serpentine poison ('yein nacha-shim yinam'). Venom ('hemah tanin') is deadly.

Deuteronomy 32:34

Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?

Deuteronomy 32:1

'Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth — the Song of Moses opens by calling heaven and earth to witness ('ha'azinu ha-shamayim va-adbera'). Cosmic witness to Israel's history and God's faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 32:2

May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech distill like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth — the word is life-giving ('tetzeh ka-matar'): teaching nourishes like rain and dew. Agricultural imagery suggests blessing.

Deuteronomy 32:3

For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! — Moses proclaims God's name ('im shmi'u shem YHVH'). 'Ascribe greatness' ('hadu l'elohenu'): recognition of God's power.

Deuteronomy 32:4

The Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he — God is 'Rock' ('Tzur'): strength and stability. Perfect works ('tamim pa'alo'), just ways ('tzaddik kol derachav'), faithfulness ('emet lo-av'), justice without corruption. The covenant God is reliable.

Deuteronomy 32:5

Yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation — Israel is 'degenerate' ('shichiet lo'): the people are corrupt ('avimu shifchutam'). Perversity ('akeshet') is generational.

Deuteronomy 32:6

Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

Deuteronomy 32:7

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you — memory ('zkor yemei olam') is the antidote: ask parents and elders. Tradition teaches covenant history.

Deuteronomy 32:8

When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods of Israel — God's cosmic ordering apportioned nations ('b'halnot elyon la-goyim'); the boundaries reflect the covenant. 'Number of the gods of Israel' likely refers to the 'elohim' (divine council) or possibly to 'sons of Israel' (variant reading).

Deuteronomy 32:9

For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted share — Israel is God's 'portion' ('ki cheleq YHVH amo'): special possession ('nahalat Yaakov'). Covenant election is intimate.