New Revised Standard NRS
Common English Bible CEB
1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
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Heaven! Pay attention and I will speak; Earth! Listen to the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.
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My teaching will fall like raindrops; my speech will settle like dew— like gentle rains on grass, like spring showers on all that is green—
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!
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because I proclaim the LORD's name: Give praise to our God!
4 The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he;
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The rock: his acts are perfection! No doubt about it: all his ways are right! He's the faithful God, never deceiving; altogether righteous and true is he.
5 yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation.
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But children who weren't his own sinned against him with their defects; they are a twisted and perverse generation.
6 Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
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Is this how you thank the LORD, you stupid, senseless people? Isn't he your father, your creator? Didn't he make you and establish you?
7 Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you.
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Remember the days long past; consider the years long gone. Ask your father, he will tell you about it; ask your elders, they will give you the details:
8 When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;
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When God Most High divided up the nations— when he divided up humankind— he decided the people's boundaries based on the number of the gods.
9 the Lord's own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.
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Surely the LORD's property was his people; Jacob was his part of the inheritance.
10 He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye.
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God found Israel in a wild land— in a howling desert wasteland— he protected him, cared for him, watched over him with his very own eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions,
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Like an eagle protecting its nest, hovering over its young, God spread out his wings, took hold of Israel, carried him on his back.
12 the Lord alone guided him; no foreign god was with him.
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The LORD alone led Israel; no foreign god assisted.
13 He set him atop the heights of the land, and fed him with produce of the field; he nursed him with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock;
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God made Israel glide over the highlands; he fed him with food from the field, nursed him with honey from a boulder, with oil from a hard rock:
14 curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams; Bashan bulls and goats, together with the choicest wheat— you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.
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curds from the herd, milk from the flock, along with the best of lambs, rams from Bashan, he-goats too, along with the finest wheat— and for drink, wine from the juiciest grapes!
15 Jacob ate his fill; Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You grew fat, bloated, and gorged! He abandoned God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
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Jacob ate until he was stuffed; Jeshurun got fat, then rebellious. It was you who got fat, thick, stubborn! Jeshurun gave up on the God who made him, thought the rock of his salvation was worthless.
16 They made him jealous with strange gods, with abhorrent things they provoked him.
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They made God jealous with strange gods, aggravated him with detestable things.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to deities they had never known, to new ones recently arrived, whom your ancestors had not feared.
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They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to deities of which they had no knowledge— new gods only recently on the scene, ones about which your ancestors had never heard.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
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You deserted the rock that sired you; you forgot the God who gave birth to you!
19 The Lord saw it, and was jealous; he spurned his sons and daughters.
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The LORD saw this and rejected out of aggravation his sons and his daughters.
20 He said: I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.
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He said: I will hide my face from them— I will see what becomes of them— because they are a confused generation; they are children lacking loyalty.
21 They made me jealous with what is no god, provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with what is no people, provoke them with a foolish nation.
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They provoked me with "no-gods," aggravated me with their pieces of junk. So I am going to provoke them with "No-People," aggravate them with a nation of fools.
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
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A fire burns in me— it will blaze to the depths of the grave; it will destroy the land and its crops; it will blacken the base of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters upon them, spend my arrows against them:
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I'll throw on them disaster after disaster; I'll destroy them with my arrows:
24 wasting hunger, burning consumption, bitter pestilence. The teeth of beasts I will send against them, with venom of things crawling in the dust.
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devastating hunger, consuming plague, bitter sickness. I'll send animal fangs after them, venom from dust crawlers too.
25 In the street the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers terror, for young man and woman alike, nursing child and old gray head.
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Outside, in the streets, the sword will bereave! Inside, in the safest room, there will be terror for young men and women, nursing baby and senior citizen.
26 I thought to scatter them and blot out the memory of them from humankind;
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I thought about it: I could have struck them down, erased them from human memory,
27 but I feared provocation by the enemy, for their adversaries might misunderstand and say, "Our hand is triumphant; it was not the Lord who did all this."
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but their enemies' rage concerned me; their opponents might misunderstand. They might say, "Our strong hands, not the LORD's, did all this,"
28 They are a nation void of sense; there is no understanding in them.
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because they are not a thoughtful nation; they lack any insight.
29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern what the end would be.
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If they had any wisdom, they would understand this; they would discern what will become of them.
30 How could one have routed a thousand, and two put a myriad to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, the Lord had given them up?
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How could one person chase off a thousand in battle? How could two people make ten thousand flee for their lives? Only because their rock sold them off, only because the LORD handed them over!
31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies are fools.
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But, no, their rocks can't compare to our rock! Our enemies are completely stupid.
32 Their vine comes from the vinestock of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter;
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Their roots run straight from Sodom— from the fields of Gomorrah! Their grapes are pure poison; their grape clusters, nothing but bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
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their wine is snake poison, venom from a cruel cobra.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?
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Don't I have this stored up, sealed in my vaults?
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; because the day of their calamity is at hand, their doom comes swiftly.
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Revenge is my domain, so is punishment-in-kind, at the exact moment their step slips up, because the day of their destruction is just around the corner; their final destiny is speeding on its way!
36 Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining.
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But the LORD will acquit his people, will have compassion on those who serve him, once he sees that their strength is all gone, that both prisoners and free people are wiped out.
37 Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
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The Lord will ask, "Where are their gods— the rocks they trusted in—
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!
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who ate up the fat of their sacrifices, who drank their sacred wine? They should stand up and help you! They should protect you now!
39 See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god besides me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand.
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Now, look here: I myself, I'm the one; there are no other gods with me. I'm the one who deals death and gives life; I'm the one who wounded, but now I will heal. There's no escaping my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear: As I live forever,
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But now I'm lifting my hand to heaven— I swear by my own eternity:
41 when I whet my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
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when I sharpen my blazing sword and my hand grabs hold of justice, I'll pay my enemies back; I'll punish in kind everyone who hates me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh— with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired enemy.
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I'll make my arrows drink much blood, while my sword devours flesh, the blood of the dead and captured, flowing from the heads of enemy generals."
43 Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him, all you gods! For he will avenge the blood of his children, and take vengeance on his adversaries; he will repay those who hate him, and cleanse the land for his people.
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Heavens: Rejoice with God! All you gods: bow down to the Lord! Because he will avenge his children's blood; he will pay back his enemies; he will punish in kind those who hate him; he will cleanse his people's land.
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun.
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So Moses came and recited all the words of this poem in everyone's hearing; Joshua, Nun's son, joined him.
45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
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When Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them: "Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law.
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he told them: Set your mind on all these words I'm testifying against you right now, because you must command your children to perform carefully all the words of this Instruction.
47 This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess."
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This is no trivial matter for you—this is your very life! It is by this means alone that you will prolong your life on the fertile land you are crossing the Jordan River to possess.
48 On that very day the Lord addressed Moses as follows:
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The LORD spoke to Moses that very same day:
49 "Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession;
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"Hike up the Abarim mountains, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho. Take a good look at the land of Canaan, which I'm giving to the Israelites as their property.
50 you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin;
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You will die on the mountain you have hiked up, and you will be gathered to your people just like your brother Aaron, who died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
51 because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites.
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because the two of you were unfaithful toward me in front of the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh, in the Zin wilderness, because you didn't treat me with proper respect before the Israelites.
52 Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites."
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You can look at the land from the other side of the river, but you won't enter there."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible