Deuteronomy · Berean Standard Bible
Deuteronomy 32 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.
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 will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
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 His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked 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 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
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 long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
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 gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons 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 found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His 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 stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
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 him, and no foreign god was with him.
12 Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
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 with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
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 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
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 His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
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 You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
18 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
19 When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
19 Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation— children of unfaithfulness.
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 My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without 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 by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches 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 heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.
23 “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
24 They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
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 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
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 would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
26 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
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 Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given 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 rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
32 But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
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 venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
34 “Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?
34 “Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
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 will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
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 He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
37 He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!
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 See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
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 lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who 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 arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”
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, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and 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 Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
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 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
45 Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel.
46 he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow 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 they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
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 On that same day the LORD said to Moses,
48 Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day, saying,
49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
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 there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered 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 For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
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 Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter 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
Places
Mount Nebo
A summit in the Transjordan highlands of Moab. From here Moses surveyed Canaan before his death; the view spans the Jordan Valley, Jericho, and the Dead Sea.
Cited in the guide: Deuteronomy 34:1; Deuteronomy 32:49
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)