f-Who stirred not your fathers’ fears.-f
18You neglected the Rock that begot you,
Forgot the God who brought you forth.
19The LORD saw and was vexed
And spurned His sons and His daughters.
20He said:
I will hide My countenance from them,
And see how they fare in the end.
For they are a treacherous breed,
Children with no loyalty in them.
21They incensed Me with no-gods,
Vexed Me with their futilities;g
I’ll incense them with a no-folk,
Vex them with a nation of fools.
22For a fire has flared in My wrath
And burned to the bottom of Sheol,
Has consumed the earth and its increase,
Eaten down to the base of the hills.
23I will sweepe misfortunes on them,
Use up My arrows on them:
24Wasting famine, ravaging plague,
Deadly pestilence, and fanged beasts
Will I let loose against them,
With venomous creepers in dust.
25The sword shall deal death without,
As shall the terror within,
To youth and maiden alike,
The suckling as well as the aged.
26 h-I might have reduced them to naught,-h
Made their memory cease among men,
27But for fear of the taunts of the foe,
Their enemies who might misjudge
And say, “Our own hand has prevailed;
None of this was wrought by the LORD!”
28 iFor they are a folk void of sense,
Lacking in all discernment.
29Were they wise, they would think upon this,
Gain insight into their future:
30“How could one have routed a thousand,
Or two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
The LORD had given them up?”
31For their rock is not like our Rock,
j-In our enemies’ ownk estimation.-j
32 Ah! The vine for them is from Sodom,
From the vineyards of Gomorrah;
The grapes for them are poison,
A bitter growth their clusters.
33Their wine is the venom of asps,
The pitiless poison of vipers.
34Lo, I have it all put away,
Sealed up in My storehouses,
35To be My vengeance and recompense,
At the time that their foot falters.
Yea, their day of disaster is near,
And destiny rushes upon them.
36For the LORD will vindicate His people
l-And take revenge for-l His servants,
When He sees that their might is gone,
And neither bond nor free is left.
37He will say: Where are their gods,
The rock in whom they sought refuge,
38Who ate the fat of their offerings
And drank their libation wine?
Let them rise up to your help,
And let them be a shield unto you!
39See, then, that I, I am He;
There is no god beside Me.
I deal death and give life;
I wounded and I will heal:
None can deliver from My hand.
40Lo, I raise My hand to heaven
And say: As I live forever,
41When I whet My flashing blade
And My hand lays hold on judgment,
Vengeance will I wreak on My foes,
Will I deal to those who reject Me.
42I will make My arrows drunk with blood—
As My sword devours flesh—
Blood of the slain and the captive
From the long-haired enemy chiefs.
43O nations, acclaim His people!
For He’ll avenge the blood of His servants,
Wreak vengeance on His foes,
And cleanse the land of His people.m
44Moses came, together with Hosea son of Nun, and recited all the words of this poem in the hearing of the people.
45And when Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. 47For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess upon crossing the Jordan.
48That very day the LORD spoke to Moses: 49Ascend these heights of Abarim to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites as their holding. 50You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 51for you both broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to uphold My sanctity among the Israelite people. 52You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelite people.
33 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died. 2He said:
The LORD came from Sinai;
He shone upon them from Seir;
He appeared from Mount Paran,
And approached from Ribeboth-kodesh,a
Lightning flashing at them from His right.b
3 cLover, indeed, of the people,
Their hallowed are all in Your hand.
They followed in Your steps,
Accepting Your pronouncements,
4When Moses charged us with the Teaching
As the heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
5Then He became King in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people assembled,
The tribes of Israel together.
6May Reuben live and not die,
Though few be his numbers.
7And this he said of Judah:
Hear, O LORD the voice of Judah
And restore him to his people.
d-Though his own hands strive for him,-d
Help him against his foes.
8And of Levi he said:
Let Your Thummim and Urim
Be with Your faithful one,
Whom You tested at Massah,
Challenged at the waters of Meribah;
9Who said of his father and mother,
“I consider them not.”
His brothers he disregarded,
Ignored his own children.
Your precepts alone they observed,
And kept Your covenant.
10They shall teach Your laws to Jacob
And Your instructions to Israel.
e-They shall offer You incense to savor-e
And whole-offerings on Your altar.
11Bless, O LORD, his substance,
And favor his undertakings.
Smite the loins of his foes;
Let his enemies rise no more.
12Of Benjamin he said:
Beloved of the LORD,
He rests securely beside Him;
Ever does He protect him,
f-As he rests between His shoulders.-f
13And of Joseph he said:
Blessed of the LORD be his land
With the bounty of dewg from heaven,
And of the deep that couches below;
14With the bounteous yield of the sun,
And the bounteous crop of the moons;
15With the best from the ancient mountains,
And the bounty of hills immemorial;
16With the bounty of earth and its fullness,
And the favor of the Presenceh in the Bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
On the crown of the elect of his brothers.
17Like a firstling bull in his majesty,
He has horns like the horns of the wild-ox;
With them he gores the peoples,
The ends of the earth one and all.
Thesei are the myriads of Ephraim,
Thosej are the thousands of Manasseh.
18And of Zebulun he said:
Rejoice, O Zebulun, on your journeys,
And Issachar, in your tents.
19They invite their kin to the mountain,
Where they offer sacrifices of success.
For they draw from the riches of the sea
And the hidden hoards of the sand.
20And of Gad he said:
Blessed be He who enlarges Gad!
Poised is he like a lion
To tear off arm and scalp.
21 k-He chose for himself the best,
For there is the portion of the revered chieftain,
Where the heads of the people come.
He executed the LORD’s judgments
And His decisions for Israel.-k
22And of Dan he said:
Dan is a lion’s whelp
That leaps forth from Bashan.
23And of Naphtali he said:
O Naphtali, sated with favor
And full of the LORD’s blessing,
Take possession on the west and south.
24And of Asher he said:
Most blessed of sons be Asher;
May he be the favorite of his brothers,
May he dip his foot in oil.
25 lMay your doorbolts be iron and copper,
And your security last all your days.
26O Jeshurun, there is none like God,
Riding through the heavens to help you,
Through the skies in His majesty.
27 lThe ancient God is a refuge,
A support are the arms everlasting.
He drove out the enemy before you
By His command: Destroy!
28Thus Israel dwells in safety,
Untroubled is Jacob’s abode,m
In a land of grain and wine,
Under heavens dripping dew.
29O happy Israel! Who is like you,
A people delivered by the LORD,
Your protecting Shield, your Sword triumphant!
Your enemies shall come cringing before you,
And you shall tread on their backs.
34 Moses went up from the steppes of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan; 2all Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; the whole land of Judah as far as the Westerna Sea; 3the Negeb; and the Plain—the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will assign it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross there.”
5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the LORD. 6He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. 7Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. 8And the Israelites bewailed Moses in the steppes of Moab for thirty days.
The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. 9Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.
10Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom the LORD singled out, face to face, 11for the various signs and portents that the LORD sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, 12and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.
a The rest of this verse and v. 2 are unclear; cf. v. 19 and Num. 33.16–36.
b Cf. Josh. 12.4; 13.12, 31.
c Others “Lowland.”
d I.e., Phoenicia.
e Precise meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f-f Lit. “Where.”
g Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
h-h Lit. “many days, like the days that you remained.”
a-a Or “You may obtain food from them to eat for money; and you may also procure water from them to
