Deuteronomy 32:10-52

10 "He found them wandering through the desert, a desolate, wind-swept wilderness. He protected them and cared for them, as he would protect himself.
11 Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the Lord kept Israel from falling.
12 The 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.
14 Their 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 savior.
16 Their idolatry made the Lord jealous; the evil they did made him angry.
17 They sacrificed to gods that are not real, 1 new gods their ancestors had never known, gods that Israel had never obeyed.
18 They forgot their God, their mighty savior, 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.
21 With their idols they have made me angry, 2 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.
22 My 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.
24 They 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.
25 War 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.
26 I would have destroyed them completely, so that no one would remember them.
27 But 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.
29 They fail to see why they were defeated; they cannot understand what happened.
30 Why were a thousand defeated by one, and ten thousand by only two? The Lord, their God, had abandoned them; their mighty God had given them up.
31 Their enemies know that their own gods are weak, not mighty like Israel's God.
32 Their enemies, corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah, are like vines that bear bitter and poisonous grapes,
33 like 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.
35 The Lord will take revenge and punish them; 3 the time will come when they will fall; the day of their doom is near.
36 The Lord will rescue his people 4 when he sees that their strength is gone. He will have mercy on those who serve him, when he sees how helpless they are.
37 Then the Lord will ask his people, "Where are those mighty gods you trusted?
38 You fed them 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.
40 As surely as I am the living God, I raise my hand and I vow
41 that 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.
42 My 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 - 5 he punishes all who kill them. He takes revenge on his enemies and forgives the sins of his people."
44 Moses and Joshua son of Nun recited this song, so that the people of Israel could hear it.
45 When Moses had finished giving God's teachings to the people,
46 he said, "Be sure to obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all of God's teachings.
47 These teachings are not empty words; they are your very life. Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy."
48 That same day the Lord said to Moses, 6
49 "Go to the Abarim Mountains in the land of Moab opposite the city of Jericho; climb Mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan that I am about to give the people of Israel.
50 You will die on that mountain as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor,
51 because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonored me in the presence of the people.
52 You will look at the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land that I am giving the people of Israel."

Deuteronomy 32:10-52 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 32

This chapter contains the song mentioned and referred to in the former, the preface to it, De 32:1-3; the character of the divine and illustrious Person it chiefly respects, De 32:4; the ingratitude of the people of the Jews to him, who were a crooked and perverse generation, aggravated by his having bought, made, and established them, De 32:5,6; and which is further aggravated by various instances of divine goodness to them, first in providing and reserving a suitable country for them, at the time of the division of the earth to the sons of men, with the reason of it, De 32:7-9; then by what the Lord did for them in the wilderness, De 32:10-12; after that in the land of Canaan, where they enjoyed plenty of all good things, and in the possession of which they were, when the illustrious Person described appeared among them, De 32:13,14; and then the sin of ingratitude to him, before hinted at, is fully expressed, namely, lightly esteeming the rock of salvation, the Messiah, De 32:15; nor could they stop here, but proceed to more ungodliness, setting up other messiahs and saviours, which were an abomination to the Lord, De 32:16; continuing sacrifices when they should not, which were therefore reckoned no other than sacrifices to demons, and especially the setting up of their new idol, their own righteousness, was highly provoking; and by all this they clearly showed they had forgot the rock, the Saviour, De 32:17,18; wherefore, for the rejection of the Messiah and the, persecution of his followers, they would be abhorred of God, De 32:19; who would show his resentment by the rejection of them, by the calling of the Gentiles, and by bringing the nation of the Romans upon them, De 32:20,21; whereby utter ruin and destruction in all its shapes would be brought upon them, De 32:22-25; and, were it not for the insolence of their adversaries, would be entirely destroyed, being such a foolish and unwise people, which appears by not observing what the enemies of the Messiah themselves allow, that there is no rock like him, whom they despised, De 32:26-31; which enemies are described, and the vengeance reserved for them pointed out, De 32:32-35; and the song closed with promises of grace and mercy to the Lord's people, and wrath and ruin to his and their enemies, on which account all are called upon to rejoice in the latter day, De 32:36-43; and this song being delivered by Moses, the people of Israel are exhorted seriously to attend to it, it being of the utmost importance to them, De 32:44-47; and the chapter is concluded with a relation of Moses being ordered to go up to Mount Nebo and die, with the reason of it, De 32:48-52.

Cross References 6

  • 1. 32.171 Corinthians 10.20.
  • 2. 32.21 a1 Corinthians 10.22; bRomans 10.19.
  • 3. 32.35Romans 12.19;Hebrews 10.30.
  • 4. 32.36aPsalms 135.14.
  • 5. 32.43Romans 15.10;Revelation 19.2.
  • 6. 32.48-52Numbers 27.12-14;Deuteronomy 3.23-27.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. teaching its young to fly; [or] watching over its young.
  • [b]. the world below: [This refers to the world of the dead.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.