The Song of Moses (continued)

32 “Skies, listen and I will speak. Earth, hear the words of my mouth. ²My teachings will come like the rain, like a mist falling {to the ground}, like a gentle rain on the soft grass, like rain on the green plants. ³Praise God* as I speak the Lord’s name! ⁴“The Rock (the Lord)—his work is perfect! Why? Because all his ways are right! God is true and faithful. He is good and honest. ⁵And you are not really his children. Your sins would make him dirty. You are crooked liars. ⁶Is that the way you should pay back the Lord {for all that he did for you? No!} You are stupid, foolish people. The Lord is your Father. He made you. He is your Creator. He supports you. ⁷“Remember what happened long ago. Think about the things that happened many, many years ago. Ask your father; he will tell you. Ask your leaders; they will tell you. ⁸God Most-High separated the people on earth and gave each nation its own land. God set up borders for those people. He made as many nations as there are angels.* ⁹The Lord’s share is his people; Jacob (Israel) belongs to the Lord. ¹⁰“The Lord found Jacob (Israel) in a desert land, an empty, windy land. The Lord surrounded Jacob to watch over him. He protected him, like the pupil of his eye. ¹¹The Lord was like an eagle to Israel. An eagle pushes her babies from the nest {to teach them to fly}. She flies with her babies to protect them. She spreads her wings to catch them {when they fall}. And she carries them on her wings {to a safe place}. The Lord is like that. ¹²“The Lord alone led Jacob (Israel). No foreign gods helped him. ¹³The Lord led Jacob to take control of the hill country. Jacob took the harvest in the fields. The Lord gave Jacob honey from the rock; he made olive oil flow from the hard rock. ¹⁴{The Lord gave Israel} butter from the herd and milk from the flock. {He gave Israel} fat lambs and goats, the best rams from Bashan, and the finest wheat. You {people of Israel} drank wine from the red juice of the grape. ¹⁵“But Jeshurun* became fat and kicked {like a bull}. (Yes, you people were fed well! You became full and fat!) Then he left the God who made him! He ran away from the Rock who saved him. ¹⁶The Lord’s people made him jealous—They worshiped other gods! They worshiped those horrible idols. And that made God angry. ¹⁷They offered sacrifices to demons that were not real gods. Those were new gods that they did not know. Those were new gods that your ancestors did not know. ¹⁸You left the Rock (God) who made you; you forgot the God who gave you life. ¹⁹“The Lord saw this and became upset. His sons and daughters made him angry! ²⁰So the Lord said, ‘I will turn away from them, then let’s see what happens! They are a rebellious people. They are like children who won’t learn their lessons! ²¹They made me jealous with {demons} that aren’t gods. They made me angry with those worthless idols. So I will make them jealous with people that are not a real nation. I will make them angry with people that are a foolish* nation. ²²My anger will burn like a fire, burning down to the deepest grave,* burning the earth and all it produces, burning deep down below the mountains! ²³“‘I will bring troubles to the Israelites. I will shoot all my arrows at them. ²⁴They will become thin from hunger. Terrible diseases will destroy them. I will send wild animals against them. Poisonous snakes and lizards will bite them. ²⁵In the streets, soldiers will kill them. In their houses, terrible things will happen. Soldiers will kill young men and women. They will kill babies and old people. ²⁶I thought about destroying the Israelites so people would forget them completely! ²⁷But I know what their enemies would say. The enemy would not understand. They would brag and say, “The Lord did not destroy Israel. We won by our own power!”’ ²⁸“The people {of Israel} are foolish. They don’t understand. ²⁹If they were wise, they would understand, they would know what would happen to them! ³⁰Can one person chase away 1,000 men? Can two men cause 10,000 men to run away? That will happen only if the Lord gives them to their enemy! That will happen only if their Rock* (God) sells them like slaves! ³¹The ‘rock’ of our enemies is not strong like our Rock (the Lord). Even our enemies know that! ³²Their vines and fields will be destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah.* Their grapes are like bitter poison. ³³Their wine is like poison from snakes. ³⁴“{The Lord says,} ‘I am saving that punishment. I have it locked up in my storehouse! ³⁵I will punish them for the bad things they did. But I am saving that punishment for when they slip and do bad things. Their time of trouble is near. Their punishment will come quickly.’ ³⁶“The Lord will judge his people. They are his servants, and he will show them mercy. He will see that their power is gone. He will see that they are all helpless—the slaves and free people, too. ³⁷Then the Lord will say, ‘Where are the false gods? Where is the ‘rock’ that you ran to for protection? ³⁸Those false gods ate the fat of your sacrifices. And they drank the wine of your offerings. So let those gods get up and help you! Let them protect you! ³⁹“‘Now, see that I and only I am God! There is no other God! I put people to death and I let people live. I can hurt people, and I can make them well. No one can save another person from my power! ⁴⁰I raise my hand toward heaven and make this promise. As surely as I live forever, these things will happen! ⁴¹I swear (promise), I will sharpen my flashing sword. I will use it to punish my enemies. I will give them the punishment they deserve. ⁴²My enemies will be killed and taken as prisoners. My arrows will be covered with their blood. My sword will cut off the heads of their soldiers.’ ⁴³“The whole world should be happy for God’s people! {Why? Because he helps them}—he punishes people who kill his servants. He gives his enemies the punishment they deserve. And he makes his land and people pure.*”

Moses Teaches the People His Song

⁴⁴Moses and Joshua son of Nun came and sang all the words of this song for the people of Israel to hear. ⁴⁵When Moses finished giving these teachings to the people, ⁴⁶he said to them, “You must be sure to pay attention to all the commands I tell you today. And you must tell your children to completely obey the commands in this Law. ⁴⁷Don’t think these teachings are not important! They are your life! Through these teachings you will live a long time in the land across the Jordan River that you are ready to take.”

Moses on Mount Nebo

⁴⁸The Lord spoke to Moses that same day. The Lord said, ⁴⁹“Go to the Abarim Mountains. Go up on Mount Nebo in the land of Moab across from the city of Jericho. Then you can look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the people of Israel to live in. ⁵⁰You will die on that mountain. You will go to be with your people, the same as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor. ⁵¹Why? Because you both sinned against me. You were at the waters of Meribah near Kadesh. That was in the desert of Zin. There, in front of the people of Israel, you did not honor me and show that I am holy. ⁵²So now you may see the land that I am giving to the people of Israel. But you can’t go into that land.”

Praise God Or “Give honor to God” or “Speak of the greatness of God.” angels Literally, “sons of El (God).” The traditional Hebrew text has, “sons (people) of Israel.” Jeshurun This is another name for Israel. This name means “good” or “honest.” foolish This is a word play. The Hebrew word meaning “foolish” is like the word meaning “worthless.” grave Or, “Sheol,” the place of death. Rock A name for God. It shows he is like a fortress or a strong place of safety. Sodom and Gomorrah Two cities God destroyed because the people were so evil. See Gen. 19. make … pure Or, “make atonement for ….” The Hebrew word means “to cover,” “to hide,” or “to erase sins.”