Self-interpreting Bible

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Deuteronomy 32

1Moses' song, which setteth forth the perfections of God; 7his special goodness to his people; 15their ingratitude and apostasy; 19God's displeasure and vengeance, but mercy in the end. 44Moses adviseth the people to set their hearts unto all the words of the law. 48God sendeth him up to mount Nebo to see the promised land, and die.


1 GIVE ear, aO ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 My doctrine shall bdrop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and cas the showers upon the grass:

3 Because dI will publish the name of the LORD: eascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4 He is fthe Rock, his work is perfect: for gall his ways are judgment: ha God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5 1They have corrupted themselves, 2their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a iperverse and crooked generation.

6 Do jye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he kthy father that hath lbought thee? hath he not mmade thee, and established thee?

7 ¶Remember nthe days of old, consider the years of 3many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8 When the most High odivided to the nations their inheritance, when he pseparated the sons of Adam, he set qthe bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the rLORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the 4lot of his inheritance.

10 He sfound him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he 5led him about, he instructed him, he kept him tas the *apple of his eye.

11 As uan eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth *abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12 So vthe LORD alone did lead him, and there was no *strange god with him.

13 He made him wride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to xsuck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14 Butter of *kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the yfat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the zpure blood of the grape.

15 ¶But aJeshurun waxed bfat, cand kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art dcovered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the eRock of his salvation.

16 They fprovoked him to jealousy with *strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17 They sacrificed unto gdevils, 6not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18 Of hthe Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast iforgotten God that formed thee.

19 And jwhen the LORD saw it, he 7abhorred them, because of the provoking of khis sons, and of his daughters.

20 And he said, lI will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a mvery *froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21 They have nmoved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger owith their *vanities: and I pwill move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a qfire is kindled in mine anger, and 8shall burn unto the lowest hell, and 9shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will rheap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24 They shall be sburnt with hunger, and devoured with 10burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will talso send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the udust.

25 The vsword *without, and terror 11within, shall 12destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26 I said, wI would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27 Were it not xthat I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, 13Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

28 For they are ya nation void of counsel, zneither is there any understanding in them.

29 aO that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30 How should bone chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock chad sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?

31 For dtheir rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is 14of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33 Their wine is ethe poison of *dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34 Is fnot this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35 To gme belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them hmake haste.

36 For ithe LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth jthat their 15power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37 And he shall say, kWhere are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be 16your protection.

  • 16: Heb. an hiding for you.

39 See now that I, even I, am lhe, and there is no god with me: mI kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For nI lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41 If I owhet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; pI will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make mine arrows qdrunk with blood, and rmy sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43 17Rejoice, sO ye nations, with his people: for he will tavenge the blood of his servants, and uwill render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his vland, and to his people.

44 ¶And Moses came and wspake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and 18Hoshea the son of Nun.

45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

    46 And he said unto them, xSet your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

    47 For it is ynot a vain thing for you; zbecause it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, *whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

    48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

      49 Get athee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

      50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be bgathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

      51 Because cye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of 19Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

      52 Yet thou shalt dsee the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.