Deuteronomy 32

English Standard Version

32 “Give ear, ^(A)O heavens, and I will speak,
    and let ^(B)the earth hear the words of my mouth.
² May ^(C)my teaching drop as the rain,
    my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
    and ^(D)like showers upon the herb.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    ascribe ^(E)greatness to our God!

^4 (F)“The Rock, ^(G)his work is perfect,
    for ^(H)all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and ^(I)without iniquity,
    just and upright is he.
⁵ They have dealt corruptly with him;
    they are no longer his children ^(J)because they are blemished;
    they are ^(K)a crooked and twisted generation.
⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord,
    you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he ^(L)your father, who ^(M)created you,
    who ^(N)made you and established you?
^7 (O)Remember the days of old;
    consider the years of many generations;
^(P)ask your father, and he will show you,
    your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸ When the Most High ^(Q)gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he ^(R)divided mankind,
he fixed the borders^[a] of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.^[b]
9 But the Lord's portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰ “He found him ^(S)in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he ^(T)encircled him, he cared for him,
    he ^(U)kept him as the apple of his eye.
^11 (V)Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
    bearing them on its pinions,
^12 (W)the Lord alone guided him,
    ^(X)no foreign god was with him.
^13 (Y)He made him ride on the high places of the land,
    and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with ^(Z)honey out of the rock,
    and ^(AA)oil out of ^(AB)the flinty rock.
¹⁴ Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat^[c] of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
    with the very finest^[d] of the wheat—
    and you drank foaming wine made from ^(AC)the blood of the grape.

¹⁵ “But ^(AD)Jeshurun grew fat, and ^(AE)kicked;
    ^(AF)you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
^(AG)then he forsook God ^(AH)who made him
    and scoffed at ^(AI)the Rock of his salvation.
^16 (AJ)They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
^17 (AK)They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to ^(AL)new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
¹⁸ You were unmindful of ^(AM)the Rock that bore^[e] you,
    and you ^(AN)forgot the God who gave you birth.

^19 (AO)“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of ^(AP)his sons and his daughters.
²⁰ And he said, ^(AQ)‘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.
^21 (AR)They have made me jealous with what is no god;
    they have provoked me to anger ^(AS)with their idols.
So ^(AT)I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
    I will provoke them to anger with ^(AU)a foolish nation.
²² For ^(AV)a fire is kindled by my anger,
    and it burns to ^(AW)the 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;
    ^(AX)I will spend my arrows on them;
²⁴ they shall be wasted with hunger,
    and devoured by plague
    and poisonous pestilence;
I will send ^(AY)the teeth of beasts against them,
    with the venom of ^(AZ)things that crawl in the dust.
^25 (BA)Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
    and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
    the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
^26 (BB)I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
    ^(BC)I will wipe them from human memory,”
²⁷ had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
    lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, ^(BD)“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 ^(BE)no understanding in them.
^29 (BF)If they were wise, they would understand this;
    they would ^(BG)discern their latter end!
³⁰ How could ^(BH)one have chased a thousand,
    and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock ^(BI)had sold them,
    and the Lord had given them up?
³¹ For ^(BJ)their rock is not as our Rock;
    ^(BK)our enemies are by themselves.
³² For their vine ^(BL)comes from the vine of Sodom
    and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of ^(BM)poison;
    their clusters are bitter;
³³ their wine is the poison of ^(BN)serpents
    and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴ “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
    ^(BO)sealed up in my treasuries?
^35 (BP)Vengeance is mine, and recompense,^{[f]
    (BQ)}for the time when their foot shall slip;
for ^(BR)the day of their calamity is at hand,
    and their doom comes swiftly.’
³⁶ For ^(BS)the Lord will vindicate^[g] his people
    ^(BT)and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
    and there is none remaining, ^(BU)bond or free.
³⁷ Then he will say, ^(BV)‘Where are their gods,
    ^(BW)the rock in which they took refuge,
³⁸ who 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 ^(BX)I, even I, am he,
    and there is no god beside me;
^(BY)I kill and I make alive;
    ^(BZ)I wound and I heal;
    and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
⁴⁰ For ^(CA)I lift up my hand to heaven
    and swear, As I live forever,
⁴¹ if I ^(CB)sharpen my flashing sword^[h]
    and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
    and will repay those who hate me.
⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    and ^(CC)my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
    from the ^(CD)long-haired heads of the enemy.’

^43 (CE)“Rejoice with him, O heavens;^[i]
    bow down to him, all gods,^[j]
for he ^(CF)avenges the blood of his children^[k]
    and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him^[l]
    and cleanses^[m] his people's land.”^[n]