Deuteronomy
Song of Moses
32
1 Listen, O heavens, as I speak; hear, earth, the words of my mouth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord and declare the greatness of our God.
5 Yet he has been treated perversely
5 by his degenerate children—
5 a deceitful and crooked generation.
7 Recall the days of old,
7 think of the years gone by;
7 your father will teach you about them,
7 your elders will enlighten you.
9 But the Lord keeps for himself his portion
9 Jacob, his chosen one.
11 Like an eagle watching its nest,
11 hovering over its young,
11 supporting them on its spread wings
11 and carrying them on its pinions,
16 They made him jealous with their strange gods;
16 they angered him with their abominable deeds.
18 They have disowned the Rock who fathered them;
18 they have forgotten the God who gave them birth.
19 The Lord saw this, and in his anger rejected his sons and daughters.
20 He said, “I will hide my face from them
20 and see what will become of them.
20 They are so perverse, so unfaithful!
21 I will, therefore, make them envious of a foolish people, 21 I will provoke them to anger with an empty-headed nation. 22 For my wrath has kindled a fire,
22 burning the world of death to its depths,
22 devouring the earth and its harvests,
22 setting ablaze the foundations of the mountains.
24 I will afflict them with famine, deadly diseases and pestilence.
24 I will send them wild beasts and venomous snakes.
25 Their children will fall by the sword; terror shall reign within,
25 destroying both young man and virgin,
25 both the nursing child and the old man.
26 I said I would scatter them afar
26 and blot out their memory among human kind,
28 They are a senseless and undis cerning nation.
28 Had they wisdom, they would have known
29 the meaning of this and the end awaiting them.
31 Even our enemies understand this:
31 their rock indeed is not like our Rock:
33 their wine contains venom
33 from the cruel fangs of deadly vipers.
34 I have kept this in reserve
34 and sealed up in my storehouse.
37 He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock they thought could be their refuge,
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations?
38 Let them rise up now and help you,
38 let them give you protection!
41 when I sharpen my glittering sword and my hand takes hold of judgment,
41 I will deal out vengeance upon my foes
41 and retribution upon those who hate me.
42 My arrows will drip with blood,
42 my sword will sink deep into the flesh—blood of the wounded and slain captives,
42 flesh of beheaded enemy leaders.
43 Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge his servants’ blood, 44 Moses recited the words of this song in the hearing of the people, and Joshua, son of Nun, was with him.
45 When Moses had finished reciting these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Be attentive to all these words which I declare to you today. Repeat them to your children so that they may take care to put all these laws into practice. 47 It is no slight matter: on this de pends your life, and by this, you shall lengthen your days in the land you are going to conquer after crossing the Jordan.”
48 Yahweh spoke to Moses on that same day and he said: 49 “Go up to the mountains of Abarim in the land of Moab and climb Mount Nebo facing Jericho. From there you shall see the land of Ca naan which I give to the children of Israel. 50 Then you shall die on Mount Nebo and join your fathers as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and went to join them. 51 Remember that you did not trust me at the waters of Meribah in the desert of Zion, when you did not proclaim me be fore the Israelites. 52 Therefore you shall not enter the Land, but shall only see it from afar.”