Deuteronomy 32

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Listen, heavens, while I speak; hear, earth, the words that I shal say!	1 Give ear, O heavens, while I speak; let the earth hearken to the words of my mouth!
2 May my teaching fal like the rain, may my word drop down like the dew, like showers on the grass,like light rain on the turf!	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.
3 For I shal proclaim the name of Yahweh. Oh, tell the greatness of our God!	3 For I will sing the LORD'S renown. Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for al his ways are equitable. A trustworthy God who does nowrong, he is the Honest, the Upright One!	4 The Rock--how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, how just and upright he is!
5 They have acted perversely, those he fathered without blemish, a deceitful and underhand brood.	5 Yet basely has he been treated by his degenerate children, a perverse and crooked race!
6 Is this the return you make to Yahweh? O people brainless and unwise! Is this not your father, whogave you being, who made you, by whom you subsist?	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?
7 Think back on the days of old, think over the years, down the ages. Question your father, let himexplain to you, your elders, and let them tel 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:
8 When the Most High gave the nations each their heritage, when he partitioned out the human race, heassigned the boundaries of nations according to the number of the children of God,	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;
9 but Yahweh's portion was his people, Jacob was to be the measure of his inheritance.	9 While the LORD'S own portion was Jacob, His hereditary share was Israel.
10 In the desert he finds him, in the howling expanses of the wastelands. He protects him, rears him,guards him as the pupil of his eye.	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.
11 Like an eagle watching its nest, hovering over its young, he spreads out his wings to hold him, hesupports him on his pinions.	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.
12 Yahweh alone is his guide; no alien god for him!	12 The LORD alone was their leader, no strange god was with him.
13 He gives him the heights of the land to ride, he feeds him on the yield of the mountains, he gives himhoney from the rock to taste, and oil from the flinty crag;	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;
14 curds from the cattle, milk from the flock, and the richness of the pasture, rams of Bashan's breed,and goats, the richness of the wheat kernel; the fermented blood of the grape for drink.	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.
15 Jacob has eaten to his heart's content, Jeshurun, grown fat, has now lashed out. (You have grownfat, gross, bloated.) He has disowned the God who made him, and dishonoured the Rock, his salvation,	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.
16 whose jealousy they aroused with foreigners -- with things detestable they angered him.	16 They provoked him with strange gods and angered him with abominable idols.
17 They sacrificed to demons who are not God, to gods hitherto unknown to them, to newcomers ofyesterday whom their ancestors had never respected.	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.
18 (You forget the Rock who fathered you, the God who made you, you no longer remember.)	18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, You forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 Yahweh saw it and, in anger, he spurned his sons and daughters.	19 When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters.
20 'I shal hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what wil become of them. For they are a deceitfulbrood, children with no loyalty in them.	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!
21 They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In myturn I shal rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shal exasperate them with a stupid nation.	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.
22 Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour theearth and al its produce, it wil set fire to the footings of the mountains.	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.
23 I shal hurl disasters on them, on them I shal use up al my arrows.	23 I will spend on them woe upon woe and exhaust all my arrows against them:
24 They wil be weakened by hunger, eaten away by plague and the bitter scourge. Against them I shalsend the fang of wild animals and the poison of snakes that glide in the dust.	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.
25 Outside, the sword bereaves, while inside terror wil reign. Young man and girl alike will perish,suckling and greybeard both together.	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.
26 I should crush them to dust, I said, I should wipe out al memory of them,	26 "I would have said, 'I will make an end of them and blot out their name from men's memories,'
27 did I not fear the boasting of the enemy.' But do not let their foes be mistaken! Do not let them say,'We have got the upper hand and Yahweh plays no part in this.'	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.'"
28 What a short-sighted nation this is, how thoroughly imperceptive!	28 For they are a people devoid of reason, having no understanding.
29 Were they wise, they would succeed, they would be able to read their destiny.	29 If they had insight they would realize what happened, they would understand their future and say,
30 How else could one man rout a thousand, how could two put ten thousand to flight, were it not thattheir Rock has sold them, that Yahweh has delivered them up?	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?"
31 But their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies cannot pray for us!	31 Indeed, their "rock" is not like our Rock, and our foes are under condemnation.
32 For their vine springs from the stock of Sodom and from the groves of Gomorrah: their grapes arepoisonous grapes, their clusters are bitter;	32 They are a branch of Sodom's vinestock, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Poisonous are their grapes and bitter their clusters.
33 their wine is snakes' poison, the vipers' cruel venom.	33 Their wine is the venom of dragons and the cruel poison of cobras.
34 But he, is he not safe with me, sealed inside my treasury?	34 "Is not this preserved in my treasury, sealed up in my storehouse,
35 Vengeance is mine, I wil pay them back, for the time when they make a false step. For the day oftheir ruin is close, doom is rushing towards them, for he wil see to it that their power fails. that neither serf norfree man remains.	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!
36 (For Yahweh wil see his people righted, he wil take pity on his servants.)	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,
37 'Where are their gods then?' he wil ask, 'the rock where they sought refuge,	37 He will say, "Where are their gods whom they relied on as their 'rock'?
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations?' Let these arise and help you,let these be the shelter above you!	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!
39 See now that I, I am he, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when Ihave struck, it is I who heal (no one can rescue anyone from me).	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.
40 Yes, I raise my hand to heaven, and I say, 'As surely as I live for ever,	40 "To the heavens I raise my hand and swear: As surely as I live forever,
41 When I have whetted my flashing sword, I shal enforce justice, I shal return vengeance to my foes, Ishall take vengeance on my foes.	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.
42 I shal make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword wil feed on flesh: the blood of the woundedand the prisoners, the dishevelled heads of the enemy!'	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."
43 Heavens, rejoice with him, let al the children of God pay him homage! Nations, rejoice with hispeople, let God's envoys tel of his power! For he wil avenge the blood of his servants, he wil return vengeanceto my foes, he will repay those who hate him and purify his people's country.	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.
44 Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the people's hearing.	44 So Moses, together with Joshua, son of Nun, went and recited all the words of this song for the people to hear.
45 When Moses had finished reciting these words to al Israel,	45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, 'Take al these words to heart; I intend them today to be evidence against you. Youmust order your children to keep and observe al the words of this Law.	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.
47 You must not think of this as empty words, for the Law is your life, and by its means you will live longin the country which you are crossing the Jordan to possess.'	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."
48 Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day and said to him,	48 On that very day the LORD said to Moses,
49 'Climb this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, in the country of Moab, opposite Jericho, and viewthe Canaan which I am giving to the Israelites as their domain.	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.
50 Die on the mountain you have climbed, and be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron diedon Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.	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;
51 Because, with the other Israelites, you broke faith with me at the Waters of Meribah-Kadesh in thedesert of Zin, because you did not make my holiness clear to the Israelites;	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.
52 you may only see the country from outside; you cannot enter it -- the country which I am giving to theIsraelites.'	52 You may indeed view the land at a distance, but you shall not enter that land which I am giving to the Israelites."