The Song of Moses

• and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
• 2  my words like rain showers on tender grass,
• and like spring showers on new growth.
• 3  ascribe greatness to our God!
• 4 is perfect, for all his ways are just;
• he is a faithful God, and[fn]
  • righteous and upright is he.
  • 5 have behaved corruptly toward[fn] him;they are not his children; this is their flaw,
  • a generation crooked and perverse.
  • 6 Like this do you treat Yahweh, foolish and[fn] people?
• Has he not, your father, created you?
  • He made you, and he established you.
  • 7 the old days,[fn] ask your father, and he will inform you,
  • your elders and they will tell you.[fn]
  • 8 [fn] the nations, at his dividing up of the sons of humankind,
• he fixed the boundaries of the peoples,
  • according to the number of the children of Israel.[fn]
  • 9 was his people, Jacob the share of his inheritance.
  • 10  and in a howling, desert wasteland;
• he[fn] he cared for him,
  • he protected him like the[fn] of his eye.
  • 11  hovers over its young,
• spreads out its wings, takes them,[fn]
  • carries them[fn] on its pinions,[fn]
  • 12 so Yahweh alone guided him,[fn]and[fn]
  • 13 the land, and he fed him the crops[fn] ofthe field,
• and he nursed him with honey from crags,[fn]
  • and with oil from flinty rock,
  • 14 With curds[fn] fromthe herd, and with milk from the flock,
• with the fat of young rams,
  • and rams, the offspring of Bashan,
• and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat,
  • and from the blood of grapes[fn] you drank fermented wine.[fn]
  • 15 you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate;
• and he abandoned God, his maker,
  • and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation.
  • 16 gods; with detestable things they provoked him.
  • 17  to gods whom[fn] they had not known,
• new gods who[fn] came from recent times;
  • [fn]
  • 18 The rock who[fn] bore you, you neglected,and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.
  • 19 them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
  • 20  I will see what will be their end,
• for they are a generation of perversity,
  • [fn]
  • 21 what is not a god; they provoked me with their idols.
• So I will make them jealous with those not a people,
  • with a foolish nation I will provoke them.
  • 22 [fn] by my anger, and it burned[fn]
• and it devoured the earth and its produce,
  • and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.
  • 23  my arrows I will spend on them.
  • 24 They will become weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence;
• and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them,
  • with the poison of the creeping things in the dust;
  • 25 her boundaries the sword will make her childless, and from inside, terror;
• both for the young man and also the young woman,
  • the infant along with the gray-headed man.
  • 26 [fn]
  • 27 the enemy, lest their foes might misunderstand,[fn]
• lest they should say,[fn] “Our hand is
  • [fn] and Yahweh did not do all this.” ’
  • 28 [fn] and there is not any understanding in them.
  • 29  they would discern[fn]
  • 30  and two could cause a myriad to flee,
• if their Rock had not sold them,
  • and Yahweh had not given them up?
  • 31  their rock is not like our Rock,
  • and our enemies recognize[fn] this.
  • 32 is from the vine of Sodom, and from the terraces of Gomorrah;
• their grapes are grapes of poison;
  • [fn]
  • 33 is the poison of snakes, and the deadly poison of horned vipers.  
  • 34 Is not this stored up with me, sealed in my treasuries?’[fn]
  • 35 [fn] and also recompense,[fn]
• because the day of their disaster is near,
  • [fn]
  • 36 on behalf of his people, and concerning his servants;
• he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared,
  • and there is no one left, confined[fn] or free.[fn]
  • 37 are their gods, their rock in whom[fn] they took refuge?
  • 38 and drank the wine of their libations?
• Let them rise up, and let them help you;
  • [fn]
  • 39 even I am he, and there is not a god besides me;
• I put to death and I give life;
  • I wound and I heal;
  • there is not one who delivers from my hand!
  • 40 indeed I lift up my hand to heaven, And I promise[fn]
  • 41 [fn][fn] and my hand takes hold[fn] of it in judgment,
• [fn]
  • and my haters I will repay.
  • 42  and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain,
  • and captives[fn] from the heads[fn] of the leaders of the enemy.’
  • 43 concerning his people,[fn]for the blood of his servants he will avenge,
• [fn]
  • and he will make atonement for his land, his people.”

44 And Moses came, and he spoke[fn] all the words of this song in the ears of the people;that is, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses finished speaking[fn] all these words to all Israel, 46 then he said to them, “Take to heart all the words[fn] that Iam admonishing against you today[fn]concerning which you should instruct them with respect to your children[fn]so that they will observe diligently[fn] all the words of this law, 47 for it is not a trifling matter among you, but it is your life, and through this word you will live long in the land[fn] that youare about to cross the Jordan to get there to take possession of it.”