Deuteronomy 32:15-25

15 Israel grew fat and kicked; they were fat and full and firm. and rejected the Rock who saved them.
16 They made God jealous with foreign gods and angry with hateful idols.
17 They made sacrifices to demons, not God, to gods they had never known, new gods from nearby, gods your ancestors did not fear.
18 You left God who is the Rock, your Father, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 The Lord saw this and rejected them; his sons and daughters had made him angry.
20 He said, "I will turn away from them and see what will happen to them. They are evil people, unfaithful children.
21 They used things that are not gods to make me jealous and worthless idols to make me angry. So I will use those who are not a nation to make them jealous; I will use a nation that does not understand to make them angry.
22 My anger has started a fire that burns down to the place of the dead. It will burn up the ground and its crops, and it will set fire to the base of the mountains.
23 "I will pile troubles upon them and shoot my arrows at them.
24 They will be starved and sick, destroyed by terrible diseases. I will send them vicious animals and gliding, poisonous snakes.
25 In the streets the sword will kill; in their homes there will be terror. Young men and women will die, and so will babies and gray-haired men.

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.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.