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Deuteronomy 32

New International Reader’s Version

1 Heavens, listen to me. Then I will speak. Earth, hear the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching fall like rain. Let my words come down like dew. Let them be like raindrops on new grass. Let them be like rain on tender plants. 3 I will make known the name of the LORD. Praise God! How great he is! 4 He is the Rock. His works are perfect. All his ways are right. He is faithful. He doesn’t do anything wrong. He is honest and fair. 5 Israel, you have sinned against him very much. It’s too bad for you that you aren’t his children anymore. You have become a twisted and evil nation. 6 Is that how you thank the LORD? You aren’t wise. You are foolish. Remember, he’s your Father. He’s your Creator. He made you. He formed you. 7 Remember the days of long ago. Think about what the LORD did through those many years. Ask your father. He will tell you. Ask your elders. They’ll explain it to you. 8 The Most High God gave the nations their lands. He divided up the human race. He set up borders for the nations. He did it based on the number of the angels in his heavenly court. 9 The LORD’s people are his share. Jacob is the nation he has received. 10 The LORD found Israel in a desert. He found them in an empty and windy land. He took care of them and kept them safe. He guarded them as he would guard his own eyes. 11 He was like an eagle that stirs up its nest. It hovers over its little ones. It spreads out its wings to catch them. It carries them up in the air on its feathers. 12 The LORD was the only one who led Israel. No other god was with them. 13 The LORD made them ride on the highest places in the land. He fed them what grew in the fields. He gave them the sweetest honey. He fed them olive oil from a rocky hillside. 14 He gave them butter and milk from the herds and flocks. He fed them the fattest lambs and goats. He gave them the best of Bashan’s rams. He fed them the finest wheat. They drank the bubbling red juice of grapes. 15 When Israel grew fat, they became stubborn. When they were filled with food, they became fat and heavy. They left the God who made them. They turned away from the Rock who saved them. 16 They made him jealous by serving false gods. They made him angry by worshipping statues of gods. He hated those gods. 17 The people sacrificed to those false gods, not to God. They hadn’t known anything about those false gods. Those gods were new to them. Their people of long ago didn’t worship them. 18 But then they deserted the Rock. He was their Father. They forgot the God who created them. 19 When the LORD saw this, he turned away from them. His sons and daughters made him angry. 20 ‘I will turn my face away from them,’ he said. ‘I will see what will happen to them in the end. They are sinful people. They are unfaithful children. 21 They made me jealous by serving what is not even a god. They made me angry by worshipping worthless statues of gods. I will use people who are not a nation to make them jealous. A nation that has no understanding will make them angry. 22 My anger will start a fire. It will burn all the way down to the kingdom of the dead. It will eat up the earth and its crops. It will set the base of the mountains on fire. 23 ‘I will pile troubles on my people. I will shoot all my arrows at them. 24 I will send them hunger. It will make them weak. I will send terrible disease. I will send deadly plagues. I will send wild animals that will tear them apart. Snakes that glide through the dust will bite them. 25 In the streets their children will be killed by swords. Their homes will be filled with terror. The young men and women will die. The babies and old people will die. 26 I said I would scatter them. I said I would erase their name from human memory. 27 But I was afraid their enemies would make fun of that. I was afraid their attackers would not understand. I was sure they would say, “We’re the ones who’ve beaten them! The LORD isn’t the one who did it.” ’ 28 Israel is a nation that doesn’t have any sense. They can’t understand anything. 29 I wish they were wise. Then they would understand what’s coming. They’d realise what would happen to them in the end. 30 How could one person chase a thousand? How could two make ten thousand run away? It couldn’t happen unless their Rock had deserted them. It couldn’t take place unless the LORD had given them up. 31 Their rock is not like our Rock. Even our enemies know that. 32 Their vine comes from the vines of Sodom. It comes from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison. Their bunches of grapes taste bitter. 33 Their wine is like the poison of snakes. It’s like the deadly poison of cobras. 34 The LORD says, ‘I have kept all those terrible things stored away. I have kept them sealed up in my strongbox. 35 I punish people. I will pay them back. The time will come when their feet will slip. Their day of trouble is near. Very soon they will be destroyed.’ 36 The LORD will come to the aid of his people. He’ll show tender love to those who serve him. He will know when their strength is gone. He’ll see that no one at all is left. 37 He’ll say, ‘Where are their gods now? Where is the rock they went to for safety? 38 Where are the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices? Where are the gods who drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let those gods rise up to help you! Let them keep you safe! 39 ‘Look! I am the One! There is no other God except me. I put some people to death. I bring others to life. I have wounded, and I will heal. No one can save you from my power. 40 I raise my hand to heaven. Here is the promise I make. You can be sure that I live for ever. 41 And you can be just as sure that I will sharpen my flashing sword. My hand will hold it when I judge. I will get even with my enemies. I will pay back those who hate me. 42 I will make my arrows drip with blood. My sword will destroy people. It will kill some. It will even kill prisoners. It will cut off the heads of enemy leaders.’ 43 You nations, be full of joy. Be joyful together with God’s people. The LORD will get even with his enemies. He will pay them back for killing those who serve him. He will wipe away the sin of his land and people. 44 Moses spoke all the words of this song to the people. Joshua, the son of Nun, was with him. 45 Moses finished speaking all these words to all the Israelites. 46 Then he said to them, ‘Think carefully about all the words I have announced to you today. I want you to command your children to be careful to obey all the words of this law. 47 They aren’t just useless words for you. They are your very life. If you obey them, you will live in the land for a long time. It’s the land you are going across the River Jordan to take as your own.’ 



48 On that same day the LORD said to Moses, 49 ‘Go up into the Abarim mountains. Go to Mount Nebo in Moab. It is opposite Jericho. From there look out over Canaan. It is the land I am giving the Israelites to take as their own. 50 You will die there on the mountain you have climbed. You will join the members of your family who have already died. In the same way, your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor. He joined the members of his family who had already died. 51 You and Aaron disobeyed me in front of the Israelites. It happened at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. You did not honour me among the Israelites as the holy God. 52 So you will see the land, but only from far away. You will not enter the land I am giving to the Israelites.’ 

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Deuteronomy 32

English Standard Version

1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. (De 4:26; Jos 24:27; Ps 50:4; Isa 34:1; Mic 1:2; Mic 6:1) 2 May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. (Job 29:22; Ps 72:6; Isa 55:10; Mic 5:7) 3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! (De 3:24) 4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. (De 32:15; De 32:18; De 32:30; De 32:37; 2Sa 22:2; Job 34:10; Ps 18:2; Ps 18:30; Ps 18:31; Isa 30:29; Da 4:37; Hab 1:12; Re 15:3) 5 They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation. (Mt 17:17; Lu 9:41; Php 2:15; 2Pe 2:13) 6 Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? (De 32:15; Ps 74:2; Isa 44:2; Isa 51:13; Isa 63:16; Isa 64:8) 7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. (Ps 44:1; Isa 63:11) 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders[1] of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.[2] (Ge 11:8; Ac 17:26) 9 But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. 10 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. (De 8:15; Ps 17:8; Ps 32:10; Pr 7:2; Jer 2:6; Ho 13:5; Zec 2:8) 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, (Ex 19:4) 12 the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him. (Ps 78:52; Isa 43:12) 13 He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. (De 8:15; Job 29:6; Ps 81:16; Isa 58:14; Eze 36:2) 14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat[3] of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest[4] of the wheat— and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape. (Ge 49:11) 15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. (De 31:16; De 31:20; De 32:6; De 33:5; De 33:26; 1Sa 2:29; 2Sa 22:47; Ps 89:26; Ps 95:1; Isa 44:2) 16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. (Nu 25:11; Ps 78:58) 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. (Jud 5:8; Ps 106:37; 1Co 10:20) 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore[5] you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. (2Sa 22:47; Ps 89:26; Ps 95:1; Isa 17:10; Jer 2:27; Jer 2:32; Ho 8:14) 19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. (Jud 2:14; Isa 1:2) 20 And 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 is no faithfulness. (De 31:17) 21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. (Nu 25:11; 1Ki 16:13; 1Ki 16:26; Ps 31:6; Ps 74:18; Ps 78:58; Ho 1:9; Jon 2:8; Ac 14:15; Ro 10:19) 22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Ps 86:13; Jer 15:14; Jer 17:4; La 4:11) 23 “And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; (Job 6:4; Ps 7:12; Ps 38:2; La 3:12; Eze 5:16) 24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. (Le 26:22; Jer 8:17; Eze 5:17; Mic 7:17) 25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. (La 1:20; Eze 7:15) 26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory,” (Job 18:17; Ps 34:16; Ps 109:15; Eze 20:23) 27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant, it was not the Lord who did all this.”’ (Nu 14:16; Ps 140:8; Isa 10:13) 28 “For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. (Isa 27:11; Jer 4:22) 29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end! (De 5:29; Ps 81:13; Isa 47:7; La 1:9; Lu 19:42) 30 How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up? (Le 26:8; Jud 2:14) 31 For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves. (1Sa 2:2; 1Sa 4:8) 32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; (De 29:18; Isa 1:10; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:46) 33 their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps. (Job 20:14; Job 20:16; Ps 58:4) 34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? (Job 14:17; Ho 13:12; Ro 2:5) 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,[6] for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’ (Ps 94:1; Ps 94:18; Isa 1:24; Isa 59:18; Na 1:2; Ro 12:19; Heb 10:30; 2Pe 2:3) 36 For the Lord will vindicate[7] his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. (Jud 2:18; 1Ki 14:10; 1Ki 21:21; 2Ki 9:8; 2Ki 14:26; Ps 90:13; Ps 106:45; Ps 135:14; Heb 10:30) 37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, (De 32:31; Jud 10:14; 1Ki 18:27; Jer 2:28) 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 I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (1Sa 2:6; 2Ki 5:7; Job 5:18; Isa 41:4; Isa 48:12; Ho 6:1) 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever, (Ge 14:22) 41 if I sharpen my flashing sword[8] and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me. (Ps 7:12; Isa 27:1; Isa 34:5; Isa 66:16; Eze 21:9) 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 heads of the enemy.’ (Ps 68:21; Jer 46:10) 43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens;[9] bow down to him, all gods,[10] for he avenges the blood of his children[11] and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him[12] and cleanses[13] his people’s land.”[14] (2Ki 9:7; Ps 79:10; Ro 15:10; Re 6:10; Re 19:2) 44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua[15] the son of Nun. (Nu 13:8; Nu 13:16) 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “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. (De 4:9; De 6:6; De 11:18) 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.” (Le 18:5; De 30:20) 



48 That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49 “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. (Nu 27:12) 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, (Nu 20:24; Nu 20:28; Nu 33:38) 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. (Nu 20:11; Nu 27:14) 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.” (De 3:27; De 34:4) 

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The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.