Deuteronomy 31:30–32:47
30Then Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end, with the entire assembly of Israel listening. Chapter 321Listen, O heavens, as I speak! Let the earth hear the words from my mouth. 2My teaching will fall like rain, and my words will settle like dew — like gentle showers on new grass, like steady rain on growing plants. 3I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Declare the greatness of our God! 4He is the Rock; his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment. He is a God of truth, without iniquity; he is just and right. 5But his people have become corrupt. Their flaws prove they are not his children. They are a twisted and crooked generation. 6Is this how you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't he your Father, the one who made you? He created you and established you! 7Think back to the ancient days. Consider the years across many generations. Ask your father — he'll tell you. Ask your elders — they'll explain it to you. 8When the Most High divided the nations and gave them their lands, when he separated the peoples of the earth, he set the boundaries of every nation according to the number of the children of Israel. 9The LORD's own portion is his people. Jacob is his chosen inheritance. 10He found him in a desert land, in a desolate and howling wilderness. He led him around, instructed him, and kept him as the apple of his eye. 11Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, he spread his wings and caught them, carrying them on his feathers. 12The LORD alone led him. No foreign god was with him. 13He let him ride over the heights of the land and feast on the harvest of the fields. He gave him honey from the rock and oil from the flinty stone, 14Butter from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, along with the fat of the finest wheat. And you drank the pure blood of the grape. 15But Jeshurun grew fat and rebellious. You grew fat, bloated, and sleek! Then he abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock of his salvation. 16They made him jealous with foreign gods and provoked him to anger with detestable practices. 17They sacrificed to demons, not to God — to gods they had never known, new gods that had recently appeared, gods your ancestors never feared. 18You forgot the Rock who fathered you. You abandoned the God who gave you life. 19When the LORD saw it, he abhorred them because his sons and daughters had provoked him. 20He said, "I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom there is no faith." 21"They made me jealous with what is no god at all. They provoked me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous with a people who are no people. I will provoke them with a foolish nation." 22A fire has been kindled by my anger, and it will burn down to the lowest hell. It will consume the earth and its produce and set the foundations of the mountains on fire. 23"I will pile disaster upon them. I will spend every arrow I have against them." 24"They will waste away from hunger, consumed by burning fever and deadly plague. I will send wild beasts to tear at them and venomous snakes to strike from the dust." 25"In the streets, the sword will cut them down. In their homes, terror will grip them — young men and young women alike, nursing infants and the gray-haired old." 26I said I would scatter them into corners; I would make their memory cease from among men. 27"But I held back because of the enemy. I didn't want their adversaries to misunderstand and boast, 'Our own power did this — the LORD had nothing to do with it.'" 28Israel is a nation without sense. There is no understanding in them. 29If only they were wise! If only they understood this and thought about where they would end up! 30How could 1 man chase 1,000, or 2 put 10,000 to flight, unless their Rock had sold them out and the LORD had handed them over? 31The rock of our enemies is nothing like our Rock — even our enemies admit that. 32Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, their clusters bitter. 33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the deadly venom of cobras. 34"Isn't all of this stored up with me, sealed away in my treasuries?" 35"Vengeance is mine, and I will repay. In due time their foot will slip, for the day of their disaster is near, and their doom is rushing toward them." 36For the LORD will judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left. 37Then he will say, "Where are their gods now? Where is the rock they ran to for shelter?" 38"Where are the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their offerings? Let those gods rise up and help you! Let them be your protection!" 39"Look and see — I alone am God. There is no god besides me. I bring death and I give life. I wound and I heal. No one can rescue anyone from my hand." 40"I raise my hand to heaven and declare: as surely as I live forever," 41"when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand seizes it for judgment, I will take vengeance on my enemies and repay those who hate me." 42I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh; with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 43Rejoice with his people, O nations! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and his people. 44Moses came with Hoshea son of Nun and spoke every word of this song so all the people could hear it. 45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he told them, "Take to heart every word I have spoken to you today. Command your children to carefully obey every word of this law. 47"These are not empty words — they are your very life. By obeying them, you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."