Deuteronomy 32

₁“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,

and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

₂May 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.

₃For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

ascribe greatness to our God!

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.

₅They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children because they are blemished;

they are a crooked and twisted generation.

₆Do you thus repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he your father, who created you,

who made you and established you?

₇Remember 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.

₈When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he divided mankind,

he fixed the borders of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.

₉But 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.

₁₁Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,

that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

bearing them on its pinions,

₁₂the Lord alone guided him,

no foreign god was with him.

₁₃He 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.

₁₄Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the very finest of the wheat—

and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

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.

₁₆They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

₁₇They 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.

₁₈You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

₁₉“The Lord saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

₂₀And 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.

₂₁They 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.

₂₂For 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.

₂₃“‘And I will heap disasters upon them;

I will spend my arrows on them;

₂₄they 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.

₂₅Outdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

₂₆I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

I will wipe them from human memory,”

₂₇had 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.”’

₂₈“For they are a nation void of counsel,

and there is no understanding in them.

₂₉If they were wise, they would understand this;

they would discern their latter end!

₃₀How 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?

₃₁For their rock is not as our Rock;

our enemies are by themselves.

₃₂For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of poison;

their clusters are bitter;

₃₃their wine is the poison of serpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

₃₄“‘Is not this laid up in store with me,

sealed up in my treasuries?

₃₅Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

for the time when their foot shall slip;

for the day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

₃₆For the Lord will vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining, bond or free.

₃₇Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,

the rock in which they took refuge,

₃₈who 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.

₄₀For I lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

₄₁if I sharpen my flashing sword

and my hand takes hold on judgment,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

and will repay those who hate me.

₄₂I 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.’

₄₃“Rejoice with him, O heavens;

bow down to him, all gods,

for he avenges the blood of his children

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him

and cleanses his people’s land.”