Deuteronomy · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Deuteronomy 32 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
1 Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; And let the earth hear the words out of my mouth.
1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 Let my speech be looked for as the rain, And my words come down as dew, As the shower upon the herbage, And as snow upon the grass.
2 My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.
3 For I have called on the name of the Lord: Assign ye greatness to our God.
3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 [As for] God, his works [are] true, And all his ways [are] judgment: God [is] faithful, and there is no unrighteousness [in him]; Just and holy [is] the Lord.
4 The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
5 They have sinned, not [pleasing] him; spotted children, A froward and perverse generation.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do ye thus recompense the Lord? [Is the] people thus foolish and unwise? Did not he himself thy father purchase thee, And make thee, and form thee?
6 Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
7 Remember the days of old, Consider the years for past ages: Ask thy father, and he shall relate to thee, Thine elders, and they shall tell thee.
7 Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
8◆ When the Most High divided the nations, When he separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations According to the number of the angels of God.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He maintained him in the wilderness, In burning thirst and a dry land: He led him about and instructed him, And kept him as the apple of an eye.
10 He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle would watch over his brood, And yearns over his young, Receives them having spread his wings, And takes them up on his back:
11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.
12 The Lord alone led them, There was no strange god with them.
12 Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
13 He brought them up on the strength of the land; He fed them with the fruits of the fields; They sucked honey out of the rock, And oil out of the solid rock.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, With the fat of lambs and rams, Of calves and kids, With fat of kidneys of wheat; And he drank wine, the blood of the grape.
14 butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.
15 So Jacob ate and was filled, And the beloved one kicked; He grew fat, he became thick and broad: Then he forsook the God that made him, And departed from God his Savior.
15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked me to anger with strange gods; With their abominations they bitterly angered me.
16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
17 They sacrificed to devils, and not to God; To gods whom they knew not: New and fresh [gods] came in, Whom their fathers knew not.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
18 Thou hast forsaken God that begot thee, And forgotten God who feeds thee.
18 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
19 And the Lord saw, and was jealous; And was provoked by the anger of his sons and daughters,
19 Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And said, I will turn away my face from them, And will show what shall happen to them in the last days; For it is a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faith.
20 He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have provoked me to jealousy with [that which is] not God, They have exasperated me with their idols; And I will provoke them to jealousy with them that are no nation, I will anger them with a nation void of understanding.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire has been kindled out of my wrath, It shall burn to hell below; It shall devour the land, and the fruits of it; It shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
22 For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
23 I will gather evils upon them, And will fight with my weapons against them.
23 “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
24 [They shall be] consumed with hunger and the devouring of birds, And there shall be irremediable destruction: I will send forth against them the teeth of wild beasts, With the rage of [serpents] creeping on the ground.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
25 Without, the sword shall bereave them of children, And terror [shall issue] out of the secret chambers; The young man shall perish with the virgin, The suckling with him who has grown old.
25 Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
26 I said, I will scatter them, And I will cause their memorial to cease from among men.
26 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
27 Were it not for the wrath of the enemy, lest they should live long, Lest their enemies should combine against them; Lest they should say, Our own high arm, And not the Lord, has done all these things.
27 were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted; Yahweh has not done all this.’”
28 It is a nation that has lost counsel, Neither is there understanding in them.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.
29 They had not sense to understand: Let them reserve these things against the time to come.
29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one pursue a thousand, And two rout tens of thousands, If God had not sold them, And the Lord delivered them up?
30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
31 For their gods are not as our God, But our enemies [are] void of understanding.
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
32 For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, And their vine-branch of Gomorrah: Their grape [is] a grape of gall, Their cluster [is] one of bitterness.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine [is] the rage of serpents, And the incurable rage of asps.
33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
34 Lo! are not these things stored up by me, And sealed among my treasures?
34 “Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
35 In the day of vengeance I will recompense, Whensoever their foot shall be tripped up; For the day of their destruction [is] near to them, And the judgments at hand are close upon you.
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
36 For the Lord shall judge his people, And shall be comforted over his servants; For he saw that they were utterly weakened, And failed in the hostile invasion, and were become feeble:
36 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
37 And the Lord said, Where are their gods On whom they trusted?
37 He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 The fat of whose sacrifices ye ate, And ye drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them arise and help you, And be your protectors.
38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection.
39 Behold, behold that I am [he], And there is no god beside me: I kill, and I will make to live: I will smite, and I will heal; And there is none who shall deliver out of my hands.
39 “See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I will lift up my hand to heaven, And swear by my right hand, And I will say, I live forever.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,
41 For I will sharpen my sword like lightning, And my hand shall take hold of judgment; And I will render judgment to my enemies, And will recompense them that hate me.
41 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my weapons drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh, [It shall glut itself] with the blood of the wounded, and from the captivity Of the heads of [their] enemies that rule over them.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
43 Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, And let all the angels of God worship him; Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, And let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; For he will avenge the blood of his sons, And he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, And will reward them that hate him; And the Lord shall purge the land of his people.
43 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
44 And Moses wrote this song in that day, and taught it to the children of Israel; and Moses went in and spoke all the words of this law in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the [son] of Nun.
44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.
45 And Moses finished speaking to all Israel.
45 Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel.
46 And he said to them, Take heed with your heart to all these words, which I testify to you this day, which ye shall command your sons, to observe and do all the words of this law.
46 He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 For this [is] no vain word to you; for it [is] your life, and because of this word ye shall live long upon the land, into which ye go over Jordan to inherit it.
47 For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
48 And the Lord spoke to Moses in this day, saying,
48 Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day, saying,
49 Go up to the Mount Abarim, this mountain Nebo which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel:
49 “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession.
50 and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be added to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was added to his people.
50 Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;
51 Because ye disobeyed my word among the children of Israel, at the waters of strife of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not among the sons of Israel.
51 because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel.
52 Thou shalt see the land before [thee], but thou shalt not enter into it.
52 For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (51)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 1:2; Deuteronomy 4:26; Jeremiah 22:29; Psalm 49:1; Jeremiah 6:19
- 2 Isaiah 55:10–11; Psalm 72:6; Micah 5:7; Job 29:22–23; Hosea 14:5
- 3 Jeremiah 10:6; Psalm 150:2; Ephesians 1:19; Deuteronomy 5:24; Exodus 33:19
- 4 Psalm 18:30–31; Psalm 92:15; Isaiah 26:4; Psalm 18:2; 2 Samuel 22:31–32
- 5 Philippians 2:15; Isaiah 1:4; Deuteronomy 31:29; Matthew 17:17; Luke 9:41
- 6 Isaiah 63:16; 1 John 3:1; Isaiah 64:8; Isaiah 44:2; Psalm 74:2
- 7 Psalm 78:3–4; Psalm 44:1; Job 8:8–10; Isaiah 46:9; Psalm 77:5–6
- 8 Acts 17:26; Genesis 11:8–9; Daniel 4:17; Genesis 15:18–21; Psalm 115:16
- 9 Jeremiah 10:16; 1 Peter 2:9–10; 1 Kings 8:51; Exodus 19:5–6; 1 Kings 8:53
- 10 Psalm 17:8; Zechariah 2:8; Deuteronomy 8:15–16; Hosea 13:5; Jeremiah 2:6
- 11 Exodus 19:4; Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 40:31; Isaiah 31:5
- 12 Isaiah 46:4; Psalm 78:52–53; Isaiah 44:7–8; Deuteronomy 1:31; Isaiah 43:11–12
- 13 Isaiah 58:14; Job 29:6; Psalm 81:16; Ezekiel 36:2; Deuteronomy 33:29
- 14 Genesis 49:11; Psalm 81:16; Psalm 147:14; Matthew 26:28–29; Psalm 22:12
- 15 Deuteronomy 31:20; Hosea 13:6; Deuteronomy 33:5; Psalm 89:26; Acts 28:27
- 16 Psalm 78:58; 1 Corinthians 10:22; 2 Kings 23:13; Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 5:9
- 17 Judges 5:8; Deuteronomy 28:64; Leviticus 17:7; Isaiah 44:8; 1 Timothy 4:1
- 18 Isaiah 17:10; Jeremiah 2:32; Psalm 106:21; Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:15
- 19 Psalm 106:40; Isaiah 1:2; Judges 2:14; Psalm 5:4; Jeremiah 44:21–23
- 20 Deuteronomy 31:17–18; Luke 7:31–32; Deuteronomy 32:5; Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19
- 21 Romans 10:19; Romans 9:25; Romans 11:11–14; 1 Kings 16:26; 1 Kings 16:13
- 22 Lamentations 4:11; Jeremiah 15:14; Zephaniah 3:8; Micah 1:4; Numbers 16:35
- 23 Ezekiel 5:16; Psalm 7:12–13; Isaiah 24:17–18; Ezekiel 14:21; Isaiah 26:15
- 24 Leviticus 26:22; Ezekiel 5:17; Genesis 3:14; Deuteronomy 28:22; Lamentations 5:10
- 25 Ezekiel 7:15; Lamentations 1:20; Jeremiah 9:21; 2 Corinthians 7:5; Lamentations 4:4
- 26 Deuteronomy 28:64; Isaiah 63:16; Leviticus 26:38; Deuteronomy 28:37; Leviticus 26:33
- 27 Numbers 14:15–16; Zechariah 1:14–15; 1 Samuel 12:22; Joshua 7:9; Psalm 140:8
- 28 Jeremiah 4:22; Hosea 4:6; Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28; Isaiah 27:11
- 29 Psalm 81:13; Deuteronomy 5:29; Hosea 14:9; Luke 19:41–42; Luke 12:20
- 30 Leviticus 26:8; Joshua 23:10; Isaiah 30:17; Psalm 31:8; Psalm 44:12
- 31 1 Samuel 4:8; Exodus 14:25; Jeremiah 40:3; Daniel 2:47; 1 Samuel 2:2
- 32 Deuteronomy 29:18; Isaiah 1:10; Ezekiel 16:45–51; Isaiah 5:4; Jeremiah 2:21
- 33 Psalm 58:4; Romans 3:13; Jeremiah 8:14; Job 20:14–16; Psalm 140:3
- 34 Job 14:17; Hosea 13:12; Jeremiah 2:22; Romans 2:5; 1 Corinthians 4:5
- 35 Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30; Nahum 1:2; Psalm 73:17–19; 2 Peter 2:3
- 36 Psalm 135:14; Psalm 106:45; 2 Kings 14:26; Judges 2:18; Joel 2:14
- 37 Jeremiah 2:28; Judges 10:14; 2 Kings 3:13
- 38 Judges 10:14; Ezekiel 16:18–19; Leviticus 21:21; Psalm 50:13; Zephaniah 2:11
- 39 1 Samuel 2:6; Hosea 6:1; Job 5:18; Isaiah 45:5; Isaiah 45:22
- 40 Hebrews 6:17–18; Genesis 14:22; Revelation 10:5–6; Jeremiah 4:2; Numbers 14:28–30
- 41 Isaiah 66:16; Isaiah 34:5–6; Exodus 20:5; Psalm 7:12; Isaiah 27:1
- 42 Deuteronomy 32:23; Jeremiah 46:10; Jeremiah 30:14; Lamentations 2:5; Ezekiel 38:21–22
- 43 Revelation 19:2; Romans 12:19; Revelation 6:10; Psalm 85:1; Deuteronomy 32:35
- 44 Numbers 13:16; Numbers 13:8; Deuteronomy 31:30; Deuteronomy 31:22
- 46 1 Chronicles 22:19; Ezekiel 40:4; Deuteronomy 11:18; Proverbs 3:1–4; Hebrews 2:1
- 47 Proverbs 4:22; Leviticus 18:5; 2 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 3:10–12; Proverbs 3:22
- 48 Numbers 27:12–13
- 49 Numbers 27:12; Numbers 33:47–48; Deuteronomy 34:1–5; Isaiah 33:17; 2 Corinthians 5:1
- 50 Genesis 25:8; Numbers 33:38; Numbers 20:24–29; Genesis 15:15; Genesis 25:17
- 51 Numbers 27:14; Numbers 20:11–14; 1 Kings 13:21–26; Deuteronomy 3:23–27; Numbers 20:24
- 52 Deuteronomy 34:1–4; Deuteronomy 1:37; Deuteronomy 32:49; Numbers 27:12; Hebrews 11:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Deuteronomy 32:8: “sons of Israel” or “sons of God”?
The Masoretic Hebrew says God fixed the borders of the peoples “according to the number of the sons of Israel.” A Hebrew manuscript from Qumran reads “sons of God,” and the Septuagint reads “angels of God.” Many scholars, Jewish and Christian, now think “sons of God” is the older reading. The Orthodox Church reads “angels of God.”
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, and Israel the lot of His inheritance." And in another place [the Scripture] saith, "Behold, the Lord taketh unto Himself a nation out of the midst of the nations, as a man takes the first-fruits of his threshing-floor; and from that nation shall come forth the Most Holy." Chapter XXX — …
… also make one race of men to dwell upon all the earth; as also Moses declared: "When the Most High divided the nations, as He scattered the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations after the number of the angels of God;" but that people which believes in God is not now under the power of angels, …
But where I could meet with such except in Thee, O Lord, I could not find,--except in Thee, who teachest by sorrow, and woundest us to heal us, and killest us that we may not die from Thee.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For the apostle too saith of the woman, "That she ought to have power on her head because of the angels." And Moses, "He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God." But here He is discoursing not of angels only, but rather of angels that are greater than others.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Do ye thus requite the Lord? This people is foolish and unwise.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)