Deuteronomy 32:43-52

43 Folks, praise ye the people of him, for he shall venge the blood of his servants, and he shall yield vengeance to the enemies of them (Nations, praise ye him with his people, for he shall avenge the blood of his servants, and he shall yield vengeance to their enemies); and he shall be merciful to the land of his people.
44 Therefore Moses came, and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people; both he and Joshua, the son of Nun. (And so Moses came, and spoke all the words of this song to the people; both he and Joshua, the son of Nun.)
45 And Moses fulfilled all these words, and spake to all Israel, (And when Moses finished speaking all these words, to all Israel,)
46 and said to them, Put ye your hearts into all the words which I witness to you today, that ye command to your sons, to keep, and to do those, and to fulfill all things that be written in the book of this law; (he said to them, Put ye into your hearts all the words which I witness to you today, so that ye command to your children to obey them, and to do them, and to fulfill all the things that be written in this Book of the Law;)
47 for not in vain these things be commanded to you, but that all men should live in doing those things; which if ye shall do (them), then ye shall abide, and shall continue long time in the land, to which ye shall enter to wield, when (the) Jordan ye have over-passed. (for these things be not commanded to you in vain, but so that all of you should live by doing them; which if ye shall do these things, then ye shall live, and shall continue a long time in the land, which ye shall enter to take, when ye have crossed over the Jordan River.)
48 And the Lord spake to Moses in the same day, and said, (And the Lord spoke to Moses on that same day, and said,)
49 Go thou up into this hill Abarim, that is, passing, into the hill of Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, (over) against Jericho; and see thou the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the sons of Israel to hold, (Go thou up to the Abarim Mountains, that is, to The Passages, yea, onto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite, or east of, Jericho; and see thou the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the Israelites for their possession,)
50 and die thou there in this hill. Into which hill thou shalt go up, and thou shalt be joined to thy peoples, as Aaron, thy brother, was dead in the hill of Hor, and was put to his peoples. (and then thou shalt die there on that mountain. Yea, thou shalt go up onto this mountain, and thou shalt join thy people, like when thy brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, and he joined his people.)
51 For ye trespassed against me, in the midst of the sons of Israel, at the Waters of Against-saying, in Kadesh, of the desert of Zin; and ye hallowed not me among the sons of Israel. (For both of you trespassed against me, before the Israelites, at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; for ye did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.)
52 Opposite (thee), thou shalt see the land, and thou shalt not enter into it, which I shall give to the sons of Israel. (And thou shalt look across, and see the land, but thou shalt not enter into it, yea, the land which I shall give to the Israelites.)

Deuteronomy 32:43-52 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.