Open English Translation DEU Chapter 32

32 “Listen you heavens, and let me speak,

≈and let the earth listen to what I have to say.

2 Let my teaching drop like rain,

≈my speech drip like dew,

like sprinkling on the grass,

≈and like showers on the plants,

3 because I declare Yahweh’s name.

≈Tell God how great he is.

4 The Rock, his work is perfect,

≈because all his ways are fair and honest—

a faithful God who never does wrong.

≈He’s always honest and always correct.

5 Yisrael acted corruptly towards him—

they’re not his children, that’s their flaw.

≈They’re a perverse and crooked generation.

6 Is that how you reward Yahweh,

you foolish people and without wisdom?

Isn’t he your father, your creator?

≈He made you and established you.

7 Remember the days of old.

≈Consider generation after generation over the years.

Ask your father and he’ll inform you.

≈Question your elders and they’ll tell you.

8 When the highest one gave the nations an inheritance,

when he spread all humans out,

he defined the boundaries for the peoples,

according to the number of Israelis,[ref]

9 because Yahweh’s allocation is his people.

≈Yakov (Jacob) is the portion of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a land that was just wilderness,

≈and in the barren, howling desert.

He surrounded him and looked after him—

watched over him like a precious possession.

11 Like an eagle stirs up its nest,

hovering over its young.

He spread his wings, then took him—

sitting him on top of his feathers.

12 Yahweh alone led Yisrael,

^and there wasn’t any foreign god helping them.

13 He helped Yisrael reach the hilltops,

and fed them the fruits of the countryside.

He nourished them with honey from the cliffs,

≈oil from the hardest rocks,

14 yogurt from the cattle and milk from the flocks,

with fat of lambs, and rams from Bashan, and goats,

with plump wheat kernels,

and the juice of grapes that you drank as wine.

15 So the good fellow got fat and kicked—

≈you were fat, getting bloated, you gorged.

Then he abandoned the God who created him,

≈and he rejected the rock that had saved him.

16 Yisrael provoked him with strange gods.

≈They anger him with their abominations.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not God—

gods they hadn’t known.

New ones that had come recently,

≈that your ancestor had never served.

18 You neglected the rock who carried you,

≈and you forgot God who gave birth to you.

19 Yahweh noticed that and he rejected you,

due to that provocation by his sons and daughters.

20 He said, ‘Let me hide myself from them,

I’ll just watch how they end up

because they’re a perverse generation—

≈children who totally lack faithfulness.

21 They provoked me with a non-god—

angered me by their worthless idols,

so I’ll provoke them with a ‘non-people’.

I’ll anger them by means of a foolish nation,[ref]

22 because my anger flames like a fire.

It burns down to the lowest grave,

and devours the land and its harvests,

and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

23 I’ll send them even more disasters.

I’ll use my arrows up on them.

24 They’ll be wasted by hunger

≈and weakened by plague and terrible contagious diseases.

I’ll send those diseases on the teeth of wild animals,

along with the poison from various creatures that crawl in the dust.

25 Outside the sword will leave people dead,

≈and inside, in the bedrooms, there’ll be terror,

whether it’s for a young man or young woman,

≈or the baby or the gray-haired man.

26 I said I’d wipe them out—

≈I would remove their memory from humankind

27 if it wasn’t for the fact that I expect that their enemies would boast.

I don’t want their adversaries to misjudge,

saying, “It’s us who’s powerful,

and Yahweh didn’t carry all this out.” ’

28 because they’re a nation short of good advice,

≈and lacking in understanding.

29 If they were wise, they’d comprehend this.

They’d understand what was ahead of them.

30 How could one warrior chase a thousand Israelis,

≈or two put ten thousands to flight,

unless their ‘rock’ sold them,

≈and Yahweh gave them up?

31 Even our enemies know

that their protector/‘rock’ is not like ours,

32 because their vine has its roots in Sodom,

≈and comes from the vineyards of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are full of poison—

≈their clusters of grapes taste bitter.

33 Their wine is snake venom,

≈and the deadly poison of vipers.

34 ‘Aren’t these future events my secret—

≈sealed up in my treasure-houses?

35 Vengeance and recompense belong to me

at the time when their foot slips,

because the day of their disaster is close,

and the things prepared for them hurry along.’[ref]

36 Yes, Yahweh vindicates his people,

≈and has compassion on his servants,

because he’ll see that their power is gone,

and no one remains, either free or enslaved.[ref]

37 Then he’ll ask, ‘Where are their gods—

the rock who they went to to be safe,

38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices,

≈and drank the wine that they’d offered?

Let those gods take action and help you.

≈Let them be a shelter over you.

39 Now you’ll realise that I’m God,

and that there’s no god other than me.

I put to death and give life.

I wound, and I heal,

and no one can challenge my power,

40 because I lift my hand up to heaven

and promise, “As I live forever,

41 when I sharpen my glittering sword,

≈and prepare to apply justice,

I will return vengeance on my enemies,

≈and I’ll pay back those who hate me.

42 I’ll make my arrows drunk with blood,

≈and my sword will devour flesh,

with the blood of those slaughtered and the captives—

from the heads of the enemy’s leaders.” ’

43 You nations, need to appreciate his people,

because he’ll avenge the blood of his servants,

and he’ll return vengeance onto his enemies,

and then he’ll forgive his country—his people.”

44 Then Mosheh, accompanied by Nun’s son Yehoshua, went and recited all the words of that song for the people to hear.

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