“aGive ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 aLet what I have learned drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
bAs the droplets on the fresh grass
And as the showers on the herb.
3 aFor I proclaim the name of Yahweh;
bAscribe greatness to our God!
4 aThe Rock! His work is perfect,
bFor all His ways are just;
cA God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.
5 aThey have acted corruptly toward Him,
They are not His children because of their defect;
bBut are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do you thus arepay Yahweh,
bO people who are wickedly foolish and without wisdom?
cIs not He your Father who has bought you?
dHe has made you and established you.
7 Remember the ancient days,
Consider the years from generation to generation.
aAsk your father, and he will declare to you,
Your elders, and they will speak to you.
8 aWhen the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
bAccording to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 aFor Yahweh’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 aHe found him in a desert land,
And in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He encircled him; He cared for him;
He guarded him as bthe pupil of His eye.
11 aLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
bHe spread His wings and caught them;
He carried them on His pinions.
12 aYahweh alone guided him,
bAnd there was no foreign god with him.
13 aHe made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
bAnd He made him suck honey from the rock,
And coil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,
aWith the finest of the wheat—
And of the bblood of grapes you drank wine.
15 “aBut Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You grew fat, thick, and sleek—
bThen he abandoned God cwho made him,
And treated dthe Rock of his salvation with wicked foolishness.
16 aThey made Him jealous with strange gods;
bWith abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 aThey sacrificed to demons who were not God,
bTo gods whom they have not known,
cNew gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 You neglected athe Rock who begot you,
bAnd forgot the God who brought you forth.
19 “aAnd Yahweh saw this and spurned them
bBecause of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them;
aI will see what their end shall be;
bFor they are a perverse generation,
cSons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 aThey have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their bidols.
cSo I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a wickedly foolish nation,
22 aFor a fire is kindled in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
bAnd it consumes the earth with its produce,
And it sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 ‘aI will heap calamities on them;
bI will exhaust My arrows on them.
24 aThey will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague
bAnd bitter destruction;
cAnd the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
dWith the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 aOutside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror—
bBoth choice man and virgin,
The nursing baby with the man of gray hair.
26 I would have said, “aI will cut them to pieces;
bI will cause the memory of them to cease from men,”
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
Lest their adversaries misjudge,
Lest they say, “aOur hand is triumphant,
And Yahweh has not done all this.”’
28 “aFor they are a nation where counsel perishes,
And there is no discernment in them.
29 aWould that they were wise, that they had insight into this,
bThat they would understand their future!
30 aHow could one pursue one thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their bRock had sold them,
And Yahweh had handed them over?
31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,
aEven our enemies themselves judge this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of apoison,
Their clusters, bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of cobras.
34 ‘aIs it not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 aVengeance is Mine, and retribution,
bIn due time their foot will stumble;
cFor the day of their disaster is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’
36 aFor Yahweh will render justice to His people,
bAnd will have compassion on His slaves,
When He sees that their strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 And He will say, ‘aWhere are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 aWho ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
bLet them rise up and help you,
Let them be your hiding place!
39 aSee now that I, I am He,
bAnd there is no god besides Me;
cIt is I who put to death and give life.
dI have wounded, and it is I who heal,
eAnd there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 Indeed, aI lift up My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,
41 aIf I sharpen My flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
bI will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 aI will make My arrows drunk with blood,
bAnd My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long‑haired leaders of the enemy.’
43 aO nations, cause His people to shout for joy;
bFor He will avenge the blood of His slaves,
cAnd He will render vengeance on His adversaries,
dAnd He will atone for His land and His people.”
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and aJoshua the son of Nun. 45 Then Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 and he said to them, “aPlace in your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command byour sons to be careful to do, even all the words of this law. 47 For it is not an idle word for you; indeed ait is your life. And bby this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Go Up Mount Nebo
48 aAnd Yahweh spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 49 “aGo up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. 50 Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be agathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 abecause you both acted unfaithfully with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the bwilderness of Zin, because you both did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52 aFor you shall see the land at a distance, but byou shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”