Deuteronomy 32:19-29

19 "¹The LORD saw this, and spurned them ²Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.

20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, ³I will see what their end shall be; ⁴For they are a perverse generation, ⁵Sons in whom is no faithfulness.

21 '⁶They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their ⁷idols. ⁸So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

22 ⁹For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, ¹⁰And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 '¹¹I will heap misfortunes on them; ¹²I will use My arrows on them.

24 '¹³They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague ¹⁴And bitter destruction; ¹⁵And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, ¹⁶With the venom of crawling things of the dust.

25 '¹⁷Outside * the sword will bereave, And inside * terror - ¹⁸Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair.

26 'I would have said, "¹⁹I will cut them to pieces, ²⁰I will remove the memory of them from men,"

27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, "²¹Our hand is triumphant, And the LORD has not done all this."'

28 "²²For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them.

29 "²³Would that they were wise, that they understood this, ²⁴That they would discern their future!

Deuteronomy 32:19-29 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

• 1. Leviticus 26:30; Psalms 106:40
• 2. Jeremiah 44:21-23
• 3. Deuteronomy 31:29
• 4. Deuteronomy 32:5
• 5. Deuteronomy 9:23
• 6. Deuteronomy 32:16; 1 Corinthians 10:22
• 7. Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Kings 16:13, 26
• 8. Romans 10:19
• 9. Numbers 16:33-35; Psalms 18:7, 8; Lamentations 4:11
• 10. Leviticus 26:20
• 11. Deuteronomy 29:21
• 12. Psalms 18:14; Psalms 45:5
• 13. Deuteronomy 28:22, 48
• 14. Psalms 91:6
• 15. Leviticus 26:22
• 16. Amos 5:18, 19
• 17. Lamentations 1:20; Ezekiel 7:15
• 18. 2 Chronicles 36:17; Lamentations 2:21
• 19. Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:64
• 20. Deuteronomy 9:14
• 21. Numbers 15:30
• 22. Deuteronomy 32:6
• 23. Deuteronomy 5:29
• 24. Deuteronomy 31:29

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "vanities"
• [b] I.e. the nether world
• [c] Lit "burning heat"
• [d] Lit "high"
• [e] Lit "perishing"
• [f] Or "latter end"