# Deuteronomy 32 đ: The Song of Moses
[[đ Explore the Bible Books]]
[[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 31]] | [[Deuteronomy 33]]
> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đ Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đ Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#đ¤ Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#đ§ Chapter Summary]]
> [[#âď¸ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#đ Key Principles / đ Life Application]]
> [[#đŹ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#âď¸ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đ Related Passages/Cross Reference]]
> [[#đ Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đ Internal Notes]]
## đ Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### Invocation of Witnesses
[[#Verse 01.]]Â Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
[[#Verse 02.]]Â My teaching will drop like the rain,
my sayings will drip like the dew,
as rain drops upon the grass,
and showers upon new growth.
[[#Verse 03.]] For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.
[[#Verse 04.]] As for the Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just.
He is a reliable God who is never unjust,
he is fair and upright.
[[#Verse 05.]] His people have been unfaithful to him;
they have not acted like his childrenâthis is their sin.
They are a perverse and deceitful generation.
[[#Verse 06.]] Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish, unwise people?
Is he not your father, your Creator?
He has made you and established you.
[[#Verse 07.]]Â Remember the ancient days;
bear in mind the years of past generations.
Ask your father and he will inform you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
[[#Verse 08.]] When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided up humankind,
he set the boundaries of the peoples,
according to the number of the heavenly assembly.
[[#Verse 09.]] For the Lordâs allotment is his people,
Jacob is his special possession.
[[#Verse 10.]] The Lord found him in a desolate land,
in an empty wasteland where animals howl.
He continually guarded him and taught him;
he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
[[#Verse 11.]] Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that hovers over its young,
so the Lord spread out his wings and took him,
he lifted him up on his pinions.
[[#Verse 12.]] The Lord alone was guiding him,
no foreign god was with him.
[[#Verse 13.]] He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land,
and he ate of the produce of the fields.
He provided honey for him from the cliffs,
and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,
[[#Verse 14.]]Â butter from the herd
and milk from the flock,
along with the fat of lambs,
rams and goats of Bashan,
along with the best of the kernels of wheat;
and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.
### Israelâs Rebellion
[[#Verse 15.]] But Jeshurun became fat and kicked;
you got fat, thick, and stuffed!
Then he deserted the God who made him,
and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.
[[#Verse 16.]]Â They made him jealous with other gods,
they enraged him with abhorrent idols.
[[#Verse 17.]]Â They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known;
to new gods who had recently come along,
gods your ancestors had not known about.
[[#Verse 18.]] You forgot the Rock who fathered you,
and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.
### A Word of Judgment
[[#Verse 19.]] But the Lord took note and despised them
because his sons and daughters enraged him.
[[#Verse 20.]]Â He said, âI will reject them.
I will see what will happen to them;
for they are a perverse generation,
children who show no loyalty.
[[#Verse 21.]] They have made me jealous with false gods,
enraging me with their worthless gods;
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize,
with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.
[[#Verse 22.]]Â For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol;
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
[[#Verse 23.]] I will increase their disasters;
I will use up my arrows on them.
[[#Verse 24.]]Â They will be starved by famine,
eaten by plague, and bitterly stung;
I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,
along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
[[#Verse 25.]]Â The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
### The Weakness of Other Gods
[[#Verse 26.]]Â âI said, âI want to cut them in pieces.
I want to make people forget they ever existed.
[[#Verse 27.]] But I fear the reaction of their enemies,
for their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, âOur power is great,
and the Lord has not done all this!ââ
[[#Verse 28.]]Â They are a nation devoid of wisdom,
and there is no understanding among them.
[[#Verse 29.]]Â I wish that they were wise and could understand this,
and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.â
[[#Verse 30.]]Â How can one man chase a thousand of them,
and two pursue ten thousand,
unless their Rock had delivered them upâ
and the Lord had handed them over?
[[#Verse 31.]] For our enemiesâ rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
[[#Verse 32.]] For their vine is from the stock of Sodom,
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes contain venom;
their clusters of grapes are bitter.
[[#Verse 33.]]Â Their wine is snakesâ poison,
the deadly venom of cobras.
[[#Verse 34.]] âIs this not stored up with me?â says the Lord,
âIs it not sealed up in my storehouses?
[[#Verse 35.]]Â I will get revenge and pay them back
at the time their foot slips;
for the day of their disaster is near,
and the impending judgment is rushing upon them!â
[[#Verse 36.]] The Lord will judge his people,
and will change his plans concerning his servants;
when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
[[#Verse 37.]]Â He will say, âWhere are their gods,
the rock in whom they sought security,
[[#Verse 38.]]Â who ate the best of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise and help you;
let them be your refuge!
### The Vindication of the Lord
[[#Verse 39.]] âSee now that I, indeed I, am he!â says the Lord,
âand there is no other god besides me.
I kill and give life, I smash and I heal,
and none can resist my power.
[[#Verse 40.]]Â For I raise up my hand to heaven,
and say, âAs surely as I live forever,
[[#Verse 41.]]Â I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,
and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment;
I will execute vengeance on my foes,
and repay those who hate me!
[[#Verse 42.]]Â I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour fleshâ
the blood of the slaughtered and captured,
the chief of the enemyâs leaders.ââ
[[#Verse 43.]]Â Cry out, O nations, with his people,
for he will avenge his servantsâ blood;
he will take vengeance against his enemies,
and make atonement for his land and people.
### Narrative Interlude
[[#Verse 44.]] Then Moses went with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.Â
[[#Verse 45.]]Â When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel
[[#Verse 46.]]Â he said to them, âKeep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law.Â
[[#Verse 47.]]Â For this is no idle word for youâit is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.â
### Instructions about Mosesâ Death
[[#Verse 48.]] Then the Lord said to Moses that same day,
[[#Verse 49.]] âGo up to this Abarim hill country, to Mount Nebo (which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho), and look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.Â
[[#Verse 50.]] You will die on the mountain that you ascend and join your deceased ancestors, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and joined his deceased ancestors,
[[#Verse 51.]] for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.Â
[[#Verse 52.]]Â You will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land that I am giving to the Israelites.â
## đ Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
###### Verse 01.
###### Verse 02.
###### Verse 03.
###### Verse 04.
###### Verse 05.
###### Verse 06.
###### Verse 07.
###### Verse 08.
###### Verse 09.
###### Verse 10.
###### Verse 11.
###### Verse 12.
###### Verse 13.
###### Verse 14.
###### Verse 15.
###### Verse 16.
###### Verse 17.
###### Verse 18.
###### Verse 19.
###### Verse 20.
###### Verse 21.
###### Verse 22.
###### Verse 23.
###### Verse 24.
###### Verse 25.
###### Verse 26.
###### Verse 27.
###### Verse 28.
###### Verse 29.
###### Verse 30.
###### Verse 31.
###### Verse 32.
###### Verse 33.
###### Verse 34.
###### Verse 35.
###### Verse 36.
###### Verse 37.
###### Verse 38.
###### Verse 39.
###### Verse 40.
###### Verse 41.
###### Verse 42.
###### Verse 43.
###### Verse 44.
###### Verse 45.
###### Verse 46.
###### Verse 47.
###### Verse 48.
###### Verse 49.
###### Verse 50.
###### Verse 51.
###### Verse 52.
## đ¤ Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. The Song of Moses is written as poetry and begins by calling heaven and earth to listen (32:1).
2. "Jeshurun" (32:15) is a poetic name for Israel, probably meaning "upright one."
3. Ancient manuscripts differ in 32:8. The traditional Hebrew text reads "sons of Israel," while a Dead Sea Scroll and the Greek Septuagint point to "sons of God."
4. Paul quotes 32:21 in Romans 10:19 to explain how God would use the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
5. Paul quotes "Vengeance is mine" from 32:35 in Romans 12:19, and it is also quoted in Hebrews 10:30.
6. Hebrews 1:6 appears to quote the Greek Septuagint version of 32:43, calling God's angels to worship Him.
7. The verb used for the eagle hovering over its young (32:11) is the same verb used of the Spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2.
8. God told Moses to climb Mount Nebo to see the land (32:49).
9. Moses would die on the mountain just as Aaron died on Mount Hor (32:50).
10. Moses could not enter the land because he did not treat the Lord as holy at the waters of Meribah Kadesh (32:51; Numbers 20:12).
## đ§ Chapter Summary
> [!note] đą Still growing. This section is on its way.
## âď¸ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the Rock whose work is perfect (32:4). Paul says the rock that followed Israel in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), and the redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb (Revelation 15:3).
## đ Key Principles / đ Life Application
> [!note] đą Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đŹ Discussion Questions
1. God is called the Rock several times in this song (32:4, 15, 18, 30). What does it mean for God to be your Rock?
2. Israel grew fat and abandoned God (32:15). Why is prosperity spiritually dangerous?
3. Moses said God's words are not empty but are your very life (32:46-47). How are you treating God's Word as life?
## âď¸ Key Verses to Remember
- đ verse 4: The Lord is the Rock. His work is perfect and all His ways are just.
- đ verses 10-11: The Lord found Israel in the wilderness and cared for them like an eagle over its young.
- đ verse 39: There is no god besides the Lord. He puts to death and gives life, He wounds and He heals.
## đ Related Passages/Cross Reference
- đ [[1 Corinthians 10#Verse 01.|1 Corinthians 10:1-4]] - The rock was Christ.
- đ [[Romans 12#Verse 19.|Romans 12:19]] - Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
- đ [[Revelation 15#Verse 03.|Revelation 15:3-4]] - The song of Moses and the Lamb.
- đ [[Romans 10#Verse 19.|Romans 10:19]] - Moses foretells the Gentiles.
- đ [[Psalm 18#Verse 02.|Psalm 18:2]] - The Lord is my rock and fortress.
## đ Devotional Reflection
> [!note] đą Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đ Internal Notes