Deuteronomy 32:20-30

20 And he said, 1'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 2They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger 3with their idols. So 4I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with 5a foolish nation.
22 For 6a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to 7the 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; 8I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send 9the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of 10things that crawl in the dust.
25 11Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 12I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces; 13I will wipe them from human memory,"
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, 14"Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this."'
28 "For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is 15no understanding in them.
29 16If they were wise, they would understand this; they would 17discern their latter end!
30 How could 18one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock 19had sold them, and the LORD had given them up?

Deuteronomy 32:20-30 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 19

  • 1. See Deuteronomy 31:17
  • 2. Psalms 78:58; See Numbers 25:11
  • 3. 1 Kings 16:13, 26; Psalms 31:6; Jonah 2:8; Acts 14:15
  • 4. Cited Romans 10:19; [Hosea 1:9, 10]
  • 5. [Psalms 74:18]
  • 6. Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 17:4; Lamentations 4:11
  • 7. Psalms 86:13
  • 8. Job 6:4; Psalms 7:12, 13; Psalms 38:2; Lamentations 3:12, 13; Ezekiel 5:16
  • 9. Leviticus 26:22; Ezekiel 5:17
  • 10. Jeremiah 8:17; Micah 7:17
  • 11. Lamentations 1:20; Ezekiel 7:15
  • 12. Ezekiel 20:23
  • 13. Job 18:17; Psalms 34:16; Psalms 109:15
  • 14. Psalms 140:8; Isaiah 10:13; [Numbers 14:16]
  • 15. Isaiah 27:11; Jeremiah 4:22
  • 16. Deuteronomy 5:29; Psalms 81:13; Luke 19:42
  • 17. Isaiah 47:7; Lamentations 1:9
  • 18. See Leviticus 26:8
  • 19. See Judges 2:14
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.