Old/New Testament
32 Moses: Listen, O sky, so I may speak!
Pay attention, O earth, to what I say!
2 Let my teaching fall on you like raindrops;
let what I say collect like the dew,
Like rain sprinkling the grass,
like showers on the green plants.
3 I will proclaim the name of the Eternal;
I will utter greatness to our God.
4 He’s the Rock, and His work is perfect; everything He does is right.
He’s the God who can be trusted, who never does wrong
because He’s righteous and upright.
5 But a perverse and crooked generation has broken its word to Him.
They are not counted as His children—not with such deficiencies.
6 Is this how you repay the Eternal,
you foolish, unwise people?
Isn’t He your Father who produced you,
who made you and established you?
7 Remember the days long ago;
consider the years of past generations.
Ask your father, and he’ll explain it to you;
ask the elders, and they’ll tell you:
8 When God, the Most High in heaven gave all the nations their inherited territory,
when He divided the descendants of Adam into nations,
When He established the boundaries of the peoples,
as the number of the sons of God,
9 Because the Eternal’s territory is His people;
and Jacob is the territory of God’s inheritance.
10 The Eternal found Jacob out in the wilderness,
out in an empty, windswept desert wasteland.
He put His arms around him and took care of him;
He protected him as the apple of His eye.
11 Just as an eagle stirs up its nest, encouraging its young to fly,
and then hovers over them in case they need help,
And spreads its wings and catches them if they fall,
and carries them up high on its wings;
12 So the Eternal guided Jacob through the wilderness
without the help of any foreign god.
13 He set him on the heights of the land
and fed him from the produce of the fields.
He even fed him honey from the rocks
and oil from flinty stones,
14 Butter from his cows and milk from his flocks,
fattened young lambs, rams raised in Bashan, and goats,
the finest fatty kernels of wheat, and wine from the lifeblood of grapes.
15 But Jeshurun—my upright ones of Israel—got fat and kicked back—
yes, you were fat and bloated and stuffed.
He abandoned the God who made him
and disdained the Rock of his salvation.
16 They made Him jealous by worshiping foreign gods;
they infuriated Him with their disgusting idols.
17 They offered sacrifices to demons that are not God;
they worshiped gods they hadn’t known,
New ones that had just appeared,
gods their ancestors had never been acquainted with.
18 You ignored the Rock who bore you
and forgot the God who gave birth to you.
Earlier Moses has described the Eternal One as Israel’s “Father” (verse 6). Now he uses the image of a mother going into labor and giving birth to describe the Eternal One’s tender affection and sacrificial love for the nation.
19 Moses: The Eternal saw this and rejected them
because His sons and daughters had made Him so angry.
20 Eternal One: I won’t look at them when they pray;
I’ll just watch and see what happens to them
Because they’re a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
21 They’ve made Me jealous by worshiping something that isn’t God,
and they’ve angered Me with their idols!
So I’ll make them jealous by favoring those who aren’t a people;
I’ll infuriate them with a godless nation.[a]
22 My anger will start a fire that will burn down to the land of the dead.
It will consume the land and all its crops
and set the mountains ablaze, right down to their foundations.
23 I’ll pile disasters on them
and use all My arrows against them.
24 They’ll be emaciated by famine
and consumed by fevers and destroyed by bitter pestilence.
I’ll attack them with the fangs of wild animals
and the venom of snakes that crawl in the dust.
25 While the sword is killing their children outside,
they’ll be huddling in terror inside their homes.
Everyone will be destroyed: young men and women,
infants and old people with gray hair.
26 I thought I would smash them in pieces
until no one remembered they ever existed,
27 But I was afraid of how their enemies would gloat,
how their opponents would get the wrong impression and say,
“We conquered them by our own power;
the Eternal didn’t do all of this!”
28 Moses: They’re a nation with no sense—
they have no understanding.
29 If only they were wise and understood this
and realized what was going to happen to them!
30 How could one of their enemies pursue a thousand of them,
and two of their enemies make ten thousand of them run away,
Unless their Rock had abandoned them,
unless the Eternal had handed them over?
31 It’s not because their rock is anything like our Rock—
even our enemies admit this!
32 No, it’s because their vine is grafted from the vines of Sodom,
from the terraces of Gomorrah:
It grows poisonous grapes in bitter clusters
33 and makes wine that’s snake venom and deadly cobra poison.
34 Eternal One: Haven’t I been saving this judgment,
sealing it away in My storehouse?
35 Revenge is Mine. I will settle all scores![b]
Soon they’ll stumble because the day of disaster is almost here,
And their doom is coming quickly!
36 Moses: The Eternal will judge His people[c]
and have mercy on His servants
When He sees they have no strength left
and they’re all gone, both slave and free.
37 Then He’ll say about Israel, “Now where are their gods,
the rocks where they took shelter,
38 The gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine they offered?
Let them get up and help you, Israel!
Let them protect you!”
39 Eternal One: Now do you see that I am the One,
and there is no other God besides Me?
I have power over life and death;
I wound, and I heal;
no one can resist My power!
40 I’m lifting up My hand toward the sky to take an oath,
and I swear, “As I live forever,
41 When I sharpen My flashing sword
and use it to bring about justice,
I’ll give My enemies what they deserve
and pay back those who hate Me!
42 I’ll get My arrows drunk with blood,
the blood of the dead and the prisoners,
And My sword will feast on flesh,
on the heads with their uncut hair of the enemy leaders!”
43 Moses: You nations, celebrate with His covenant people[d]
because He’s going to avenge the blood of His servants.
He’ll give His enemies what they deserve
and atone for His land and His people.
44 This was the song that Moses presented, together with Joshua[e] (Nun’s son), while all the people were listening. 45 After Moses had said all of these words, everything recorded in this book, to everyone in Israel, 46 he spoke to them.
Moses: Every word I’ve said to you today will be a witness against you, so set it in your heart, remember it well, and teach it to your children, so they’ll be careful to obey every word of this law. 47 You can’t afford to ignore even one word; your very life depends on it! It’s how you’ll be able to live a long time in the land on the other side of the Jordan that will be your territory.
48 The Eternal spoke to Moses on that same day.
God gives Moses a peek at the blessing he missed because of his disobedience.
Eternal One: 49 Climb to the top of Mount Nebo, one of the Abarim mountains here in the land of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I’m giving to the people of Israel as their property. 50 Just as Aaron died when he climbed Mount Hor and joined his ancestors in death, you’ll die on top of the mountain you climb and join your ancestors in death. 51 This is because you and Aaron disobeyed Me in front of all the Israelites at Meribah-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, when you struck the rock instead of commanding it to give water. You did not honor Me, your holy God, as if you could ignore My instructions if you wanted to, in front of all the Israelites![f] 52 So you can look at this land from a distance, but you can’t go into it, this land I’m giving to the Israelites.
33 Before he died, Moses, the man of God, blessed the people of Israel with this blessing.
The Lord has “called Israel His own” in the way that cities and territories in the ancient world are named after those who have explored, settled, or conquered them. It is understood that the person whose name is attached to a place will have continuing interests there, such as preventing anyone else from taking the crops, oppressing the people, and so forth. The Lord’s name is literally “over” the people of Israel, providing shelter and protection. Anyone who wants to harass them has to answer to Him, so His great reputation will keep them safe from marauders. If they are trusting and obedient, they will be protected from spiritual dangers and attacks by the power and reputation of the One who has called them by His own name.
2 Moses: The Eternal came from Mount Sinai:
He glowed like the dawn over Mount Seir;
He shone like the sun over Mount Paran;
He arose in the middle of His chosen ones, gathered in their tens of thousands.
The law was a flame in His right hand.[g]
3 Truly He loves His people;
all Your chosen ones are in Your hand.
They gathered at Your feet and received Your words.
4 Moses gave us a law to keep;
it will always belong to the people of Jacob.
5 When all their leaders gathered and the Israelite tribes came together,
the Eternal became king of Jeshurun—
6 Let Reuben live and not die,
and let not his people be few.
7 Moses said this about Judah:
Moses: Listen, Eternal, to the voice of Judah,
and bring him back to his people safely.
He defends himself with his own hands;
help him against his enemies!
8 About Levi he said,
Moses: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your loyal servant,
the man you tested at Massah and had a dispute with at Meribah about the water.
9 When the Levites carry out the law,
they don’t give special treatment to their fathers or mothers
Or favor their relatives or recognize their children.
They obey Your word and keep Your covenant.
10 They teach Jacob Your rules;
they teach Israel Your law.
They set incense before You
and offer burnt sacrifices on Your altar.
11 Bless Levi with strength, Eternal,
and accept the service he offers You.
Crush the loins of those who hate him and attack him,
so they’ll never attack them again!
12 About Benjamin he said,
Moses: The Eternal’s beloved rests safely next to Him,
protected all through the day,
resting between His shoulders.
13 About Joseph he said,
Moses: May his land be blessed by the Eternal
with the best the sky has to offer—abundant rains—
and with the dew and the waters that lie below the ground.
14 May it be blessed with the best the sun can produce
and the best crops of each month,
15 With the best that grows on the ancient mountains
and the everlasting hills,
16 With the best the land has to offer
when it’s filled with good things,
And most of all may it be blessed
with the favor of the One who appeared in the burning bush.
Let all these blessings rest on Joseph’s head,
on the head of this prince among his brothers.
17 He’s majestic, like a firstborn bull;
he has powerful horns, as does a wild ox.
With them he will gore the nations, driving them away to the ends of the earth.
This is the power of Ephraim’s ten thousands,
of Manasseh’s thousands of troops.
18 About Zebulun and Issachar he said,
Moses: Rejoice, Zebulun, as you go out to sea,
and rejoice, Issachar, in your tents!
19 They call peoples to the mountain
where they offer right sacrifices;
Because they feast on the abundance of the sea,
and they profit from the hidden treasures of the sand.
20 About Gad he said,
Moses: Blessed is the one who expands Gad’s territory!
He lives there like a lioness,
tearing at the arm and the top of the head.
21 He chose the best for himself;
a commander’s portion was hidden for him there, east of the Jordan.
He came at the head of the army to help the other tribes conquer their land.
He carried out the righteousness of what the Eternal said was to happen,
What was right, and carried out His decrees with the rest of Israel.
22 About Dan he said,
Moses: Dan is a lion’s cub,
leaping up from Bashan.
23 About Naphtali he said,
Moses: Naphtali, you’re satisfied with favor and filled with the Eternal’s blessing.
Take possession of the Sea of Galilee and the land on its western and southern shores.
24 About Asher he said,
Moses: Asher is the most blessed of Israel’s sons;
may he be the favorite of his brothers!
May the olive trees in his land produce so abundantly
that he’ll be wading in olive oil!
25 May the bolts of your gates be iron and bronze,
and may you have the strength you need for every day.
In Hebrew this expression, “There is no god like God,” makes an extremely strong statement. God is one of a kind.
26 There is no god like the God of Jeshurun—
the God of the upright ones of Israel—
Who comes across the sky to rescue you,
riding on the clouds in His majesty.
27 The Eternal God is your shelter;
He holds you up in His everlasting arms.
He chased away your enemies ahead of you,
shouting to you, “Destroy them!”
28 Now Israel lives in safety;
Jacob’s spring is isolated
In a land of grain and new wine
where dew falls from the sky.
29 How happy you are, Israel! Who is like you?
You’re the people the Eternal has saved.
He’s the shield that protects you
and the sword that brings you pride.
Your enemies will cringe and surrender before you,
and you’ll stamp out their high places of worship into the ground.
34 Moses climbed up from the plains of Moab to the top of Mount Nebo, to the peak at Mount Pisgah on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. The Eternal showed him the whole land that would be Israel’s territory: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all of Judah’s territory to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, 3 the southern desert,[h] and the basin in the valley of Jericho, the “city of palms,” as far as Zoar.
Eternal One (to Moses): 4 This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I told them, “I’ll give it to your descendants.” I’ve let you see it, even though you won’t be going into it.
God Himself buried Moses, with no grave and no monument that the Israelites could use to create another idol for worship.
5 So Moses, the Eternal’s servant, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Eternal had said. 6 He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eyesight hadn’t failed and his strength hadn’t diminished. 8 The children of Israel stayed in the plains of Moab and mourned for Moses for 30 days, until the grieving period was over.
9 Now Joshua (Nun’s son) was filled with a spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on this successor. The children of Israel obeyed Joshua, and they did what the Eternal had commanded Moses. 10 Since then there’s never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Eternal knew him face-to-face! 11 No one has ever done anything like the amazing things the Eternal sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to demonstrate His reality and power to Pharaoh and his servants and his whole country. 12 And no one has shown such great power or done such terrifying things as everyone in Israel saw Moses do.
26 Over His head hung a sign that indicated the charge for which He was being crucified. It read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27 On either side of Him were two insurgents who also had received the death penalty. [28 And the Hebrew Scripture was completed that said, “He was considered just another criminal.”][a]
29 Those passing by on their way into or out of Jerusalem insulted and ridiculed Him.
Some in the Crowd: So You’re the One who was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days? 30 Well, if You’re so powerful, then why don’t You rescue Yourself? Come on down from the cross!
Chief Priests and Scribes (mocking Jesus among themselves): 31 He rescued others, but He can’t rescue Himself. 32 Let the Anointed—the King of Israel—come down from the cross now, and we will see it and believe.
Even the insurgents who were being crucified next to Him taunted Him and reviled Him.
33 At noon, the day suddenly darkened for three hours across the entire land. 34 Sometime around three o’clock Jesus called out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
Jesus was speaking, as in the psalms, “My God, My God, why have You turned Your back on Me?”[b]
35 Some of those standing nearby misunderstood Him.
Bystanders: Hey, He’s calling for Elijah.
36 One of them filled a sponge with wine that had turned to vinegar and lifted it to Jesus’ lips on a stick so He could drink.
Bystander: Let’s see if Elijah will come to take Him down.
37 Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and He took His last breath.
38 At that moment, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The tearing of the temple veil is a picture of what Jesus’ death has accomplished. The temple sanctuary is divided into two sections: the holy place and the most holy place. The most holy place is a chamber so sanctified that only the high priest can enter—and then only once a year. There God’s presence is manifest on earth.
A long curtain divides the two areas, and at the moment of Jesus’ death it is torn in two. The veil that serves as a means to protect everyone but the high priest from the power of God’s presence is no longer needed because Jesus, on account of His sacrificial death, gives everyone access to God. Only God Himself can rip the curtain in two “from top to bottom,” opening the way for people to come into His presence.
39 The Roman Centurion, the soldier in charge of the executions, stood in front of Jesus, [heard His words,][c] and saw the manner of His death.
Centurion: Surely this man was the Son of God!
40 Off in the distance, away from the crowds, stood some women who knew and had followed Jesus, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James, Joses, and Salome. 41 These were women who used to care for Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem joined them.
42 Evening came. The crucifixion had taken place on preparation day, Friday, before the Jewish Sabbath began at sundown. 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the ruling council who was also a believer anxiously waiting for the kingdom of God, went to Pilate and boldly asked for the body of Jesus.
44 Pilate could not believe Jesus was already dead, so he sent for the Centurion, 45 who confirmed it. Then Pilate gave Joseph permission to take the body.
46 Joseph had the body wrapped in a linen burial cloth he had purchased and laid Him in a tomb that had been carved out of rock. Then he had a stone rolled over the opening to seal it. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching as the body was interred.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.