Deuteronomy 32:15-25

15 "But 1Jeshurun grew fat, and 2kicked; 3you grew fat, stout, and sleek; 4then he forsook God 5who made him and scoffed at 6the Rock of his salvation.
16 7They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 8They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to 9new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of 10the Rock that bore[a] you, and you 11forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 12"The LORD saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of 13his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, 14'I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 15They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger 16with their idols. So 17I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with 18a foolish nation.
22 For 19a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to 20the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 "'And I will heap disasters upon them; 21I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send 22the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of 23things that crawl in the dust.
25 24Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

Deuteronomy 32:15-25 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 24

  • 1. Deuteronomy 33:5, 26; Isaiah 44:2
  • 2. [1 Samuel 2:29]
  • 3. See Deuteronomy 31:20
  • 4. Deuteronomy 31:16
  • 5. ver. 6
  • 6. 2 Samuel 22:47; Psalms 89:26; Psalms 95:1
  • 7. Psalms 78:58; See Numbers 25:11
  • 8. Psalms 106:37; [1 Corinthians 10:20]
  • 9. [Judges 5:8]
  • 10. 2 Samuel 22:47; Psalms 89:26; Psalms 95:1
  • 11. Isaiah 17:10; Jeremiah 2:27, 32; Hosea 8:14
  • 12. [Judges 2:14]
  • 13. [Isaiah 1:2]
  • 14. See Deuteronomy 31:17
  • 15. Psalms 78:58; See Numbers 25:11
  • 16. 1 Kings 16:13, 26; Psalms 31:6; Jonah 2:8; Acts 14:15
  • 17. Cited Romans 10:19; [Hosea 1:9, 10]
  • 18. [Psalms 74:18]
  • 19. Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 17:4; Lamentations 4:11
  • 20. Psalms 86:13
  • 21. Job 6:4; Psalms 7:12, 13; Psalms 38:2; Lamentations 3:12, 13; Ezekiel 5:16
  • 22. Leviticus 26:22; Ezekiel 5:17
  • 23. Jeremiah 8:17; Micah 7:17
  • 24. Lamentations 1:20; Ezekiel 7:15

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.