Deuteronomy 32

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

Listen closely, heavens above, I have something to say; and you too, earth beneath, pay attention to my words.

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:

My teachings will fall gently like rain, my words will refresh like dew, like a light rain nurturing young plants, like a shower invigorating the grass.

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

I will proudly proclaim the name of the Lord; acknowledge the immense greatness of our God.

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.

He is our unshakeable foundation, flawless in all His actions. His path is guided by fairness; He is a God of honesty, free from wrongdoing. He is just and upright.

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

They've tainted their own souls, they're not like His innocent children anymore: they've become a twisted and misguided generation.

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?

Are you really going to repay God's kindness with foolishness and ignorance? Isn't He your Father who has redeemed you? Didn't He create you and give you a firm foundation in life?

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.

Reflect on the past, think about the wisdom of previous generations. Ask your father or elders, they'll guide you with their experiences.

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.

When the Supreme Being distributed the world's riches among nations, and distinguished the descendants of Adam, He did so with the count of Israel's children in mind, setting limits for each group.

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

God deeply cherishes His people; He considers Jacob as His treasured possession.

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.

In the barren, desolate desert, amidst the eerie, echoing wilderness, he discovered him. He guided him, taught him, and cherished him deeply, as one would a beloved treasure.

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

Just like a mother eagle rouses her nest, hovers over her chicks, extends her wings wide, picks them up and carries them high on her wings.

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

In solitude, the LORD guided him, with no other deity by his side.

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;

He lifted him to the earth's highest peaks, so he could feast on nature's bounty. He gifted him the sweetness of honey from the hardest rock and oil from the stoniest ground.

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.

You enjoyed the rich butter from cows and the creamy milk from sheep, feasting on the best lambs, rams from Bashan's finest breeds, and goats. You savored the finest wheat and drank the purest wine made from the sweetest grapes.

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.

Jeshurun grew fat and arrogant, kicking out like a pampered animal; he abandoned the God who made him and scorned the solid foundation of his salvation.

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

They stirred His jealousy with unfamiliar gods, their vile actions ignited His wrath.

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.

They offered sacrifices to demons, not to the Divine; to unfamiliar gods, to fresh idols that suddenly appeared, which their ancestors never revered.

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

You've forgotten the solid foundation that gave you life, and neglected the God who shaped you.

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

When God saw their actions, He rejected them in disgust, because His own sons and daughters had provoked Him to anger.

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.

He declared, "I'll turn away, let's see how they fare. They're a stubborn lot, these faithless children."

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.

Their worship of false gods has stirred my jealousy; their empty rituals have sparked my anger. In return, I will make them envious of those who are not even a nation, and I will infuriate them with a senseless people.

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.

My anger ignites like a fierce fire, burning intensely, reaching down to the lowest depths of the realm of the dead. It will devour the earth and its bounty, setting the very core of the mountains ablaze.

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

I will shower them with troubles; I will exhaust my arrows on them.

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.

They will suffer intense hunger and be consumed by scorching heat, facing harsh ruin. I will unleash upon them the fierce bites of wild beasts, and the venom of earth's serpents.

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

Outside the sword and inside terror will destroy them all, young men and young women, nursing babies and gray-haired old men alike.

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

I vowed to disperse them far and wide, to erase their memory from the minds of men.

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.

If I wasn't wary of the enemy's fury, afraid that their foes would misread what happened and boast that they achieved this by their own power, without God's intervention.

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

They are a people lacking guidance, completely devoid of wisdom.

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

I wish they were wise enough to understand, to think about what their future holds!

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?

How can one person defeat a thousand, or two overcome ten thousand, unless their Rock has handed them over, and God has given them up?

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

Even our foes can't deny it; their foundation is nothing compared to ours.

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:

Their roots are deeply embedded in the corrupt soil of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, and their clusters are bitter.

Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

Their drink is as deadly as a serpent's poison, and as harsh as a viper's venom.

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

Isn't all this stored up with me, sealed away among my treasures?

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.

I hold the power of justice and payback; they will stumble when the time is right. Their day of disaster is near, and their impending doom rushes towards them.

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.

When His people are powerless and no one is left, God, in His deep love and compassion, will step in to defend His people and restore His servants.

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

He will question, "Where are their so-called gods, their supposed rock of trust?"

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.

Those who indulged in the richness of your sacrifices and savored your wine offerings, let them stand up for you, let them be your shield.

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.

Understand this, it's me, only me, the one and only God. I have the power to give life and to take it away; to cause pain and to heal it. No one can escape from my grasp.

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

With my hand raised to the heavens, I declare, my spirit is eternal.

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.

When I sharpen my shining sword and grasp the scales of justice, I will repay my foes with retribution and give due to those who despise me.

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.

My arrows will be soaked in the enemy's blood, my sword will feast on their flesh. This is the start of my vengeance, fueled by the blood of those defeated and captured.

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.

Celebrate together, all nations, with his people. For he will seek justice for his servants' bloodshed, he will repay his enemies, and he will show kindness to his land and his people.

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

Moses, with a heart full of passion, shared every word of this divine song with the people, standing side by side with Hoshea, Nun's son.

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

After pouring out his heart and sharing all his wisdom, Moses finally fell silent, his words echoing in the hearts of every Israelite.

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.

He urged them, "Embrace these words I share with you today. Teach your children to follow these laws with all their hearts."

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.

This isn't meaningless for you; it's your very existence. By embracing this, you'll enjoy a longer life in the land you're about to claim across the Jordan.

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

On that very day, the LORD passionately communicated with Moses, saying,

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:

Climb up this mountain Abarim, to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho. Look over the land of Canaan, the gift I'm giving to the children of Israel to own.

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:

Climb the mountain where you'll breathe your last, joining your ancestors in eternal rest, just as your brother Aaron did on Mount Hor.

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

You broke my trust when you acted against me at MeribahKadesh's waters, in the barren Zin wilderness. You failed to honor me among our people, the children of Israel.

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

You'll gaze upon the promised land, but you won't step foot in it, the land I'm giving to Israel's children.