Deuteronomy 32

₁“Earth and sky, hear my words,

listen closely to what I say.

₂My teaching will fall like drops of rain

and form on the earth like dew.

My words will fall like showers on young plants,

like gentle rain on tender grass.

₃I will praise the name of the LORD,

and his people will tell of his greatness.

₄“The LORD is your mighty defender,

perfect and just in all his ways;

Your God is faithful and true;

he does what is right and fair.

₅But you are unfaithful, unworthy to be his people,

a sinful and deceitful nation.

₆Is this the way you should treat the LORD,

you foolish, senseless people?

He is your father, your Creator,

he made you into a nation.

₇“Think of the past, of the time long ago;

ask your parents to tell you what happened,

ask the old people to tell of the past.

₈The Most High assigned nations their lands;

he determined where peoples should live.

He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,

₉but Jacob's descendants he chose for himself.

₁₀“He found them wandering through the desert,

a desolate, windswept wilderness.

He protected them and cared for them,

as he would protect himself.

₁₁Like an eagle teaching its young to fly,

catching them safely on its spreading wings,

the LORD kept Israel from falling.

₁₂The LORD alone led his people

without the help of a foreign god.

₁₃“He let them rule the highlands,

and they ate what grew in the fields.

They found wild honey among the rocks;

their olive trees flourished in stony ground.

₁₄Their cows and goats gave plenty of milk;

they had the best sheep, goats, and cattle,

the finest wheat, and the choicest wine.

₁₅“The LORD's people grew rich, but rebellious;

they were fat and stuffed with food.

They abandoned God their Creator

and rejected their mighty saviour.

₁₆Their idolatry made the LORD jealous;

the evil they did made him angry.

₁₇They sacrificed to gods that are not real,

new gods their ancestors had never known,

gods that Israel had never obeyed,

₁₈They forgot their God, their mighty saviour,

the one who had given them life.

₁₉“When the LORD saw this, he was angry

and rejected his sons and daughters.

₂₀‘I will no longer help them,’ he said;

‘then I will see what happens to them,

those stubborn, unfaithful people.

₂₁With their idols they have made me angry,

jealous with their so-called gods,

gods that are really not gods.

So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry;

I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.

₂₂My anger will flame up like fire

and burn everything on earth.

It will reach to the world below

and consume the roots of the mountains.

₂₃“ ‘I will bring on them endless disasters

and use all my arrows against them.

₂₄They will die from hunger and fever;

they will die from terrible diseases.

I will send wild animals to attack them,

and poisonous snakes to bite them.

₂₅War will bring death in the streets;

terrors will strike in the homes.

Young men and young women will die;

neither babies nor old people will be spared.

₂₆I would have destroyed them completely,

so that no one would remember them.

₂₇But I could not let their enemies boast

that they had defeated my people,

when it was I myself who had crushed them.’

₂₈“Israel is a nation without sense;

they have no wisdom at all.

₂₉They fail to see why they were defeated;

they cannot understand what happened.

₃₀Why were a thousand defeated by one,

and 10,000 by only two?

The LORD, their God, had abandoned them;

their mighty God had given them up.

₃₁Their enemies know that their own gods are weak,

not mighty like Israel's God.

₃₂Their enemies, corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah,

are like vines that bear bitter and poisonous grapes,

₃₃like wine made from the venom of snakes.

₃₄“The LORD remembers what their enemies have done;

he waits for the right time to punish them.

₃₅The LORD will take revenge and punish them;

the time will come when they will fall;

the day of their doom is near.

₃₆The LORD will rescue his people

when he sees that their strength is gone.

He will have mercy on those who serve him,

when he sees how helpless they are.

₃₇Then the LORD will ask his people,

‘Where are those mighty gods you trusted?

₃₈You fed them with the fat of your sacrifices

and offered them wine to drink.

Let them come and help you now;

let them run to your rescue.

₃₉“ ‘I, and I alone, am God;

no other god is real.

I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal,

and no one can oppose what I do.

₄₀As surely as I am the living God,

I raise my hand and I vow

₄₁that I will sharpen my flashing sword

and see that justice is done.

I will take revenge on my enemies

and punish those who hate me.

₄₂My arrows will drip with their blood,

and my sword will kill all who oppose me.

I will spare no one who fights against me;

even the wounded and prisoners will die.’

₄₃“Nations, you must praise the LORD's people —

he punishes all who kill them.

He takes revenge on his enemies

and forgives the sins of his people.”