Deuteronomy 32:15-47

15 "1But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked - You are grown fat, thick, and sleek - 2Then he forsook God 3who made him, And scorned 4the Rock of his salvation.
16 "5They made Him jealous with strange gods; 6With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 "7They sacrificed to demons who were not God, 8To gods whom they have not known, 9New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 "You neglected 10the Rock who begot you, 11And forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 "12The LORD saw this, and spurned them 13Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, 14I will see what their end shall be; 15For they are a perverse generation, 16Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 '17They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their 18idols. 19So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 20For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, 21And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 '22I will heap misfortunes on them; 23I will use My arrows on them.
24 '24They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague 25And bitter destruction; 26And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, 27With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 '28Outside * the sword will bereave, And inside * terror - 29Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26 'I would have said, "30I will cut them to pieces, 31I 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, "32Our hand is triumphant, And the LORD has not done all this."'
28 "33For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them.
29 "34Would that they were wise, that they understood this, 35That they would discern their future!
30 "36How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless * * their 37Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?
31 "Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, 38Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of 39poison, Their clusters, bitter.
33 "Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.
34 '40Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 '41Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, 42In due time their foot will slip; 43For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.'
36 "44For the LORD will vindicate His people, 45And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 "And He will say, '46Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 '47Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? 48Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place!
39 '49See now that I, I am He, 50And there is no god besides Me; 51It is I who put to death and give life. 52I have wounded and it is I who heal, 53And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 'Indeed, 54I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
41 55If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, 56I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 '57I will make My arrows drunk with blood, 58And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.'
43 "59Rejoice, O nations, with His people; 60For He will avenge the blood of His servants, 61And will render vengeance on His adversaries, 62And will atone for His land and His people."
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with 63Joshua the son of Nun.
45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, "64Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command 65your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.
47 "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed 66it is your life. And 67by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Deuteronomy 32:15-47 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 67

  • 1. Deuteronomy 31:20
  • 2. Judges 10:6
  • 3. Deuteronomy 32:6
  • 4. Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 89:26
  • 5. Psalms 78:58
  • 6. Psalms 106:29
  • 7. Leviticus 17:7; 1 Corinthians 10:20
  • 8. Deuteronomy 28:64
  • 9. Judges 5:8
  • 10. Deuteronomy 32:4
  • 11. Psalms 106:21
  • 12. Leviticus 26:30; Psalms 106:40
  • 13. Jeremiah 44:21-23
  • 14. Deuteronomy 31:29
  • 15. Deuteronomy 32:5
  • 16. Deuteronomy 9:23
  • 17. Deuteronomy 32:16; 1 Corinthians 10:22
  • 18. Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Kings 16:13, 26
  • 19. Romans 10:19
  • 20. Numbers 16:33-35; Psalms 18:7, 8; Lamentations 4:11
  • 21. Leviticus 26:20
  • 22. Deuteronomy 29:21
  • 23. Psalms 18:14; Psalms 45:5
  • 24. Deuteronomy 28:22, 48
  • 25. Psalms 91:6
  • 26. Leviticus 26:22
  • 27. Amos 5:18, 19
  • 28. Lamentations 1:20; Ezekiel 7:15
  • 29. 2 Chronicles 36:17; Lamentations 2:21
  • 30. Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:64
  • 31. Deuteronomy 9:14
  • 32. Numbers 15:30
  • 33. Deuteronomy 32:6
  • 34. Deuteronomy 5:29
  • 35. Deuteronomy 31:29
  • 36. Leviticus 26:7, 8
  • 37. Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 44:12
  • 38. Exodus 14:25
  • 39. Deuteronomy 29:18
  • 40. Job 14:17; Jeremiah 44:21
  • 41. Psalms 94:1; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30
  • 42. Jeremiah 23:12
  • 43. Ezekiel 7:5-10
  • 44. Psalms 135:14; Hebrews 10:30
  • 45. Leviticus 26:43-45; Deuteronomy 30:1-3
  • 46. Judges 10:14; Jeremiah 2:28
  • 47. Numbers 25:1, 2
  • 48. Jeremiah 11:12
  • 49. Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10
  • 50. Deuteronomy 32:12; Isaiah 45:5
  • 51. 1 Samuel 2:6; Psalms 68:20
  • 52. Psalms 51:8
  • 53. Psalms 50:22
  • 54. Ezekiel 20:5, 6; Ezekiel 21:4, 5
  • 55. Isaiah 34:6-8
  • 56. Jeremiah 50:28-32
  • 57. Deuteronomy 32:23
  • 58. Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 46:10, 14
  • 59. Romans 15:10
  • 60. 2 Kings 9:7; Revelation 6:10; Revelation 19:2
  • 61. Isaiah 1:24, 25
  • 62. Psalms 65:3; Psalms 79:9; Psalms 85:1
  • 63. Numbers 13:8, 16
  • 64. Ezekiel 40:4; Ezekiel 44:5
  • 65. Deuteronomy 4:9
  • 66. Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 30:20
  • 67. Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 33:25

Footnotes 17

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