Deuteronomy 32

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 Give ear, O heavens, while I speak; let the earth hearken to the words of my mouth!	1 "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my instruction soak in like the rain, and my discourse permeate like the dew, Like a downpour upon the grass, like a shower upon the crops.	2 May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.
3 For I will sing the LORD'S renown. Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!	3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock--how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, how just and upright he is!	4 "The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.
5 Yet basely has he been treated by his degenerate children, a perverse and crooked race!	5 They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Is the LORD to be thus repaid by you, O stupid and foolish people? Is he not your father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?	6 Do you thus requite the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
7 Think back on the days of old, reflect on the years of age upon age. Ask your father and he will inform you, ask your elders and they will tell you:	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.
8 When the Most High assigned the nations their heritage, when he parceled out the descendants of Adam, He set up the boundaries of the peoples after the number of the sons of God;	8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
9 While the LORD'S own portion was Jacob, His hereditary share was Israel.	9 For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
10 He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of his eye.	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.
11 As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, So he spread his wings to receive them and bore them up on his pinions.	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,
12 The LORD alone was their leader, no strange god was with him.	12 the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no foreign god with him.
13 He had them ride triumphant over the summits of the land and live off the products of its fields, Giving them honey to suck from its rocks and olive oil from its hard, stony ground;	13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; and he made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Butter from its cows and milk from its sheep, with the fat of its lambs and rams; Its Bashan bulls and its goats, with the cream of its finest wheat; and the foaming blood of its grapes you drank.	14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats, with the finest of the wheat--and of the blood of the grape you drank wine.
15 (So Jacob ate his fill,) the darling grew fat and frisky; you became fat and gross and gorged. They spurned the God who made them and scorned their saving Rock.	15 "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked; you waxed fat, you grew thick, you became sleek; then he forsook God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him with strange gods and angered him with abominable idols.	16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominable practices they provoked him to anger.
17 They offered sacrifice to demons, to "no-gods," to gods whom they had not known before, To newcomers just arrived, of whom their fathers had never stood in awe.	17 They sacrificed to demons which were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come in of late, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, You forgot the God who gave you birth.	18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters.	19 "The LORD saw it, and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 'I will hide my face from them," he said, "and see what will then become of them. What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them!	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.
21 "Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god' and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a 'no-people'; with a foolish nation I will anger them.	21 They have stirred me to jealousy with what is no god; they have provoked me with their idols. So I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people; I will provoke them with a foolish nation.
22 "For by my wrath a fire is enkindled that shall rage to the depths of the nether world, Consuming the earth with its yield, and licking with flames the roots of the mountains.	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.
23 I will spend on them woe upon woe and exhaust all my arrows against them:	23 "'And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them;
24 "Emaciating hunger and consuming fever and bitter pestilence, And the teeth of wild beasts I will send among them, with the venom of reptiles gliding in the dust.	24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence; and I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 "Snatched away by the sword in the street and by sheer terror at home Shall be the youth and the maiden alike, the nursing babe as well as the hoary old man.	25 In the open the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.
26 "I would have said, 'I will make an end of them and blot out their name from men's memories,'	26 I would have said, "I will scatter them afar, I will make the remembrance of them cease from among men,"
27 Had I not feared the insolence of their enemies, feared that these foes would mistakenly boast, 'Our own hand won the victory; the LORD had nothing to do with it.'"	27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge amiss, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, the LORD has not wrought all this."'
28 For they are a people devoid of reason, having no understanding.	28 "For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
29 If they had insight they would realize what happened, they would understand their future and say,	29 If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end!
30 "How could one man rout a thousand, or two men put ten thousand to flight, Unless it was because their Rock sold them and the LORD delivered them up?"	30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up?
31 Indeed, their "rock" is not like our Rock, and our foes are under condemnation.	31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 They are a branch of Sodom's vinestock, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Poisonous are their grapes and bitter their clusters.	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;
33 Their wine is the venom of dragons and the cruel poison of cobras.	33 their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 "Is not this preserved in my treasury, sealed up in my storehouse,	34 "Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?
35 Against the day of vengeance and requital, against the time they lose their footing?" Close at hand is the day of their disaster and their doom is rushing upon them!	35 Vengeance 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.
36 Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people; on his servants he shall have pity. When he sees their strength failing, and their protected and unprotected alike disappearing,	36 For 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.
37 He will say, "Where are their gods whom they relied on as their 'rock'?	37 Then he will say, 'Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 Let those who ate the fat of your sacrifices and drank the wine of your libations Rise up now and help you! Let them be your protection!	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 "Learn then that I, I alone, am God, and there is no god besides me. It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, and from my hand there is no rescue.	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.
40 "To the heavens I raise my hand and swear: As surely as I live forever,	40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear, As I live for ever,
41 I will sharpen my flashing sword, and my hand shall lay hold of my quiver. "With vengeance I will repay my foes and requite those who hate me.	41 if I whet my glittering sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will requite those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall gorge itself with flesh-- With the blood of the slain and the captured, Flesh from the heads of the enemy leaders."	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.'
43 Exult with him, you heavens, glorify him, all you angels of God; For he avenges the blood of his servants and purges his people's land.	43 "Praise his people, O you nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people."
44 So Moses, together with Joshua, son of Nun, went and recited all the words of this song for the people to hear.	44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.
45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,	45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said, "Take to heart all the warning which I have now given you and which you must impress on your children, that you may carry out carefully every word of this law.	46 he said to them, "Lay to heart all the words which I enjoin upon you this day, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law.
47 For this is no trivial matter for you; rather, it means your very life, since it is by this means that you are to enjoy a long life on the land which you will cross the Jordan to occupy."	47 For it is no trifle for you, but it is your life, and thereby you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess."
48 On that very day the LORD said to Moses,	48 And the LORD said to Moses that very day,
49 "Go up on Mount Nebo, here in the Abarim Mountains (it is in the land of Moab facing Jericho), and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their possession.	49 "Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho; and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel for a possession;
50 Then you shall die on the mountain you have climbed, and shall be taken to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and there was taken to his people;	50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;
51 because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the desert of Zin by failing to manifest my sanctity among the Israelites.	51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meri-bath-adesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not revere me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.
52 You may indeed view the land at a distance, but you shall not enter that land which I am giving to the Israelites."	52 For you shall see the land before you; but you shall not go there, into the land which I give to the people of Israel."