1
“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
as the light rain upon the tender grass,
and as the showers upon the plants.
3
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God!
4
The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
5
They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children, but a blemish,
a crooked and twisted generation.
6
Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, who created you,
who made you and established 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 to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of Israel.
9
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10
He found him in a desert land,
in the waste, howling wilderness.
He encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
fluttering over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
and bearing them on its pinions,
12
so the LORD alone guided him,
and no foreign god was with him.
13
He made him ride on the heights of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field;
he made him suck honey from the rock,
and oil from the flinty crag,
14
curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with the fat of lambs;
and rams of Bashan and goats,
with the finest wheat;
and you drank the foaming blood of the grape.
15
Then Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked back—
you grew fat, thick, and sleek—
and he forsook God who made him,
and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had not known,
to new gods that had come recently,
which your fathers had not feared.
18
The Rock who fathered you, you neglected,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19
When the LORD saw it, he rejected them,
because he was grieved by his sons and daughters.
20
He said: I will hide my face from them,
and see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
21
They made me jealous with what is not God,
they provoked me to grief with their idols.
Therefore I will make them jealous with what is not a people,
and I will grieve them with a foolish nation.
22
For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the lowest depths of Sheol;
it devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23
I will heap disasters upon them,
I will spend all my arrows against them.
24
When they are wasted with hunger and consumed by fever heat,
and by plague,
then I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of creatures that crawl in the dust.
25
The sword outside the house
and terror within the chambers will destroy
both young man and virgin,
the nursing child as well as the gray-haired man.
26
I would have said: I will scatter them,
I will make the memory of them cease from among men,
27
but I feared the taunt of the enemy,
lest their adversaries misunderstand,
lest they say: Our hand has prevailed;
it was not the LORD who did all this.
28
For they are a nation without counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
29
If only they were wise, they would understand this,
and consider their latter end.
30
How could one chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up!
31
For their rock is not like our Rock;
let our enemies themselves be judges!
32
For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom,
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter.
33
Their wine is the venom of serpents,
and the cruel poison of cobras.
34
Is not this laid up with me,
sealed up in my storehouse?
35
Vengeance is mine, and recompense;
at the time when their foot slips,
for the day of their calamity is near,
and what is prepared for them comes quickly.
36
For the LORD will vindicate his people,
and have compassion on his servants;
when he sees that their strength is gone,
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
37
Then he will say: Where are their gods,
— the rock in which they took refuge —
38
who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you,
that you may find protection.
39
See now that I, even I, am he.
There is no God besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
I have wounded, and I heal;
and there is none who can deliver out of my hand.
40
Indeed, I lift up my hand to heaven,
and say: As I live forever,
41
when I sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold of judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and repay those who hate me.
42
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the heads of the long-haired enemies.
43
Rejoice, O nations, with his people,
for he avenges the blood of his servants,
he takes vengeance on his adversaries,
and makes atonement for the land of his people.”
44
Then Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke in the hearing of the people all the words of this song.
45
When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46
he said to them: “Take to heart all the words with which I warn you today, so that you may command them to your children to observe faithfully all the words of this law.
47
For this word is not an empty word for you, but it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
48
On that same day the LORD spoke to Moses:
49
“Go up into the mountains of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession,
50
then you shall die on the mountain that you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people —
51
because you broke faith with me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not uphold my holiness among the people of Israel.
52
You may look upon the land before you, but you shall not go in there, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”
🎵🪨⚖️ Summary of Deuteronomy 32 – The Song of Moses: God’s Faithfulness and the People’s Unfaithfulness
Deuteronomy 32 contains “The Song of Moses,” a deeply prophetic and instructive song. Moses delivered this song as a final witness before his death, describing the mercy and justice of God, as well as the betrayal and its consequences that the nation of Israel would bear.
This chapter closes with Moses’ command that this word not be forgotten, and the Lord tells Moses that he will soon die.
📌 1. Praise to the Righteous and Faithful Lord (verses 1–4)
- Moses opens his song by calling on heaven and earth as witnesses.
- He declares that the Lord is the Rock, faithful, just, true, and without blemish.
🎯 The foundation of faith is knowing God’s character: perfect, steadfast, and unchanging.
📌 2. Israel’s Unfaithfulness (verses 5–18)
- The nation is described as:
Acting corruptly and unfaithfully
Forgetting their Maker
Rebelling and worshiping foreign gods
- They grieved the Lord by forgetting His grace and protection.
🎯 People often neglect God precisely after they have been blessed.
📌 3. God’s Response to Rebellion (verses 19–35)
- The Lord declares that He will:
Hiding His face
Handing them over to foreign nations
Allowing suffering to come so they would realize
- Yet the Lord also said:
“Vengeance belongs to Me.” (verse 35)
🎯 The Lord is patient, yet He is also just and will act if His people keep rebelling.
📌 4. The Restoration and Judgment of God (verses 36–43)
- The Lord will restore His people when they humble themselves.
- He will judge His enemies and forgive His people.
- Closing of the song:
“Rejoice, O nations, with His people!” (verse 43)
🎯 Grace and restoration are part of the Lord’s plan for His repentant people.
📌 5. The Command to Keep the Word and the Death of Moses (verses 44–52)
- Moses said to the people:
“Take to heart all these words… for they are not empty words for you, but they are your life.” (verses 46–47)
- The Lord told Moses that he would die on Mount Nebo and would not enter the promised land.
🎯 The word of the Lord is not empty theory, but the key to life.
📖 Main Teaching
- The Lord is perfect in love and justice.
- People often forget the Lord after being blessed — this is a serious warning.
- The Lord disciplines not to destroy, but to awaken.
- The end of the story of grace is restoration and forgiveness for the repentant.
- The word of the Lord must be remembered and carried out — for it is life, not theory.
✨ Spiritual Meaning (New Testament)
- Romans 12:19 (quoting verse 35):
“Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
“The Lord will judge His people.”
“So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth…”
🎯 Jesus is the fulfillment of the love and justice of God sung by Moses.
“He is the Rock, His work is perfect.” – Deuteronomy 32:4
“You have forgotten the Rock who gave you birth.” – Deuteronomy 32:18
“For it is not an empty word for you, but it is your life.” – Deuteronomy 32:47
