Deuteronomy 32:6-16

6 Whether thou yieldest these things to the Lord, thou fond people and unwise? Whether he is not thy father, that wielded thee, and made, and formed thee of nought? (Did thou yield these things to the Lord, thou foolish and unwise people? Is he not thy father, who made thee, and formed thee out of nothing, and wieldeth thee?)

7 Have thou mind of eld days, think thou (on) all generations; ask thy father, and he shall tell to thee, ask thy greater men, and they shall say to thee. (Remember the days of old, and think thou on all the generations; ask thy father, and he shall tell thee, ask the men of great age, that is, thy elders, and they shall say to thee.)

8 When the highest parted folks, when he separated the sons of Adam, he ordained the terms of peoples by the number of the sons of Israel. (When the Most High God divided the nations, when he separated the sons of man, he ordained the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.)

9 Forsooth the part of the Lord is his people; Jacob is the little part of his heritage. (But the Lord's portion was his own people; Jacob was the portion of his inheritance.)

10 The Lord found him in a desert land, in the place of horror, either hideousness, and of waste wilderness; the Lord led him about, and taught him, and he kept him as the apple of his eye. (The Lord found them in a desert land, in a howling, wasted wilderness; and the Lord led them about, and taught them, and kept them as the apple of his eye.)

11 As an eagle stirring his birds to fly, and flying above them, he spreaded forth his wings, and took them into his protection, and he bare them in his shoulders. (Like an eagle stirring his young to fly, and flying above them, he spread out his wings, and took them up, and he carried them upon his shoulders.)

12 The Lord alone was his leader, and none alien god was with him. (The Lord alone was their leader, and no other god was with him.)

13 The Lord ordained him on an high land, that he should eat the fruits of fields, that he should suck honey of a stone, and oil of the hardest rock; (The Lord ordained them upon the highlands, and they ate the fruits of the fields, and sucked honey out of the stones, and oil out of the hardest rock,)

14 butter of the drove, and milk of sheep, with the fatness of lambs, and of rams, of the sons of Bashan; and that he should eat kids with [the] marrow, or tried flour, of wheat, and he should drink the clearest blood, or wine, of the grape. (and they ate butter from the herds, and milk from the sheep, and the fatness of lambs, and rams from the sons of Bashan, and goats, and the marrow, or the fine flour, of wheat; and they drank the clearest blood, that is, the purest wine, of the grapes.)

15 The beloved people was made fat, and (they) kicked against (God); made fat withoutforth, made fat within, and alarged; he forsook God his maker, and went away from God his health/from God his saviour. (And Jeshurun was made fat, and rebellious; made fat withoutforth, made fat within, yea enlarged; and they forsook God their Maker, and went away from God their salvation/from God their Saviour.)

16 They stirred God to wrath in alien gods that they praised, they stirred him to wrathfulness in their abominations, that is, their own findings. (They provoked God to anger with foreign, or other, gods that they praised, and they stirred him to rage with their abominable doings.)

Deuteronomy 32:6-16 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.