HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 93
6Do you thus repay the LORD,
O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
7Remember the days of old,
consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
8When the Most Highb apportioned the nations,
when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the gods;c
9the LORD’s own portion was his people,
Jacob his allotted share.
10He sustainedd him in a desert land,
in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the apple of his eye.
11As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its pinions,
12the LORD alone guided him;
no foreign god was with him.
13He set him atop the heights of the land,
and fed him withe produce of the field;
he nursed him with honey from the crags,
with oil from flinty rock;
14curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs and rams;
Bashan bulls and goats,
together with the choicest wheat—
you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.
15Jacob ate his fill;f
Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!
He abandoned God who made him,
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16They made him jealous with strange gods,
with abhorrent things they provoked him.
17They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to deities they had never known,
to new ones recently arrived,
whom your ancestors had not feared.
18You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;g
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19The LORD saw it, and was jealous;h
he spurnedi his sons and daughters.
20He said: I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
21They made me jealous with what is no god,
provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with what is no people,
provoke them with a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23I will heap disasters upon them,
spend my arrows against them:
24wasting hunger,
burning consumption,
bitter pestilence.
The teeth of beasts I will send against them,
with venom of things crawling in the dust.
25In the street the sword shall bereave,
and in the chambers terror,
for young man and woman alike,
nursing child and old gray head.
26I thought to scatter themj
and blot out the memory of them from humankind;
27but I feared provocation by the enemy,
for their adversaries might misunderstand
and say, “Our hand is triumphant;
it was not the LORD who did all this.”
28They are a nation void of sense;
there is no understanding in them.
29If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern what the end would be.
30How could one have routed a thousand,
and two put a myriad to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
the LORD had given them up?
31Indeed their rock is not like our Rock;
our enemies are fools.k
32Their vine comes from the vinestock of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter;
33their wine is the poison of serpents,
the cruel venom of asps.
34Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
35Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
because the day of
their calamity is at hand, their doom comes swiftly.
36Indeed the LORD will vindicate his people,
have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
neither bond nor free remaining.
37Then he will say: Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you,
let them be your protection!
39See now that I, even I, am he;
there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and no one can deliver from my hand.
40For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and swear: As I live forever,
41when I whet my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold on judgment;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and will repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired enemy.
43Praise, O heavens,l his people,
worship him, all you gods!m
For he will avenge the blood of his children,n
and take vengeance on his adversaries;
he will repay those who hate him,o
and cleanse the land for his people.p
44Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshuaq son of Nun. 45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: “Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses’ Death Foretold
48On that very day the LORD addressed Moses as follows: 49“Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession; 50you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites. 52Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Traditional rendering of Heb Elyon
c Q Ms Compare Gk Tg: MT the Israelites
d Sam Gk Compare Tg: MT found
e Sam Gk Syr Tg: MT he ate
f Q Mss Sam Gk: MT lacks Jacob ate his fill
g Or that begot you
h Q Mss Gk: MT lacks was jealous
i Cn: Heb he spurned because of provocation
j Gk: Meaning of Heb uncert
ain
k Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
l Q Ms Gk: MT nations
m Q Ms Gk: MT lacks this line
n Q Ms Gk: MT his servants
o Q Ms Gk: MT lacks this line
p Q Ms Sam Gk Vg: MT his land his people
q Sam Gk Syr Vg: MT Hoshea
32.1–3 The introductory idiom is both didactic and hymnic.
32.1 On the appeal for heavens and earth to attend the poet’s discourse, see Isa 1.2. Cf. also 4.26; 30.19; 31.28.
32.2 Teaching, or “lore.” See, e.g., Isa 29.24; Job 11.4; Prov 1.5; 4.2.
32.3 Proclamation of the name of the LORD here means public defense of divine providence and honor (cf., e.g., Josh 7.7–9; Ps 96.8; Jer 14.21; 32.20).
32.4–18 Poignant contrast between God’s superlative character and the waywardness of God’s people (vv. 4–5) is developed through narrative retrospect into an indictment of the poet’s audience (you, vv. 6–7, 15, 18).
32.4 The Lord’s stalwart integrity and trustworthiness are underscored by the epithets Rock (also vv. 15, 18, 30–31; elsewhere, e.g., 2 Sam 22.3; Ps 18.2, 31, 46; Isa 17.10; 44.8; Hab 1.12) and faithful God (see 7.9; Pss 33.4; 89.1–2; Isa 25.1; Hos 2.20). Just and upright. See Ps 119.137.
32.5 Children. See 14.1. Dealt falsely (acted corruptly in 9.12). Cf. Isa 1.2–4; Hos 9.9; Mal 2.8.
32.6 Accusation stresses the Lord’s paternal claim on Israel. Your father, who created you. Cf. Ex 4.21–23; Jer 31.8–9; Hos 11.1–3. See note on Ex 15.16.
32.7 On the appeal for remembrance of primal events (days of old, Isa 51.9–10; 63.11; Mic 7.14–15), see 4.32–34; Job 8.8–10; Isa 46.8–11; 63.11.
32.8 Most High (Hebrew ‘Elyon) is an appellation generally expressing the Lord’s universal sovereignty (e.g., Gen 14.18–22; Num 24.16; Pss 47.2; 78.35; 83.18); here and occasionally elsewhere (Isa 14.14; Ps 82.6) it denotes the executive of the divine assembly, comprising subordinate gods (lit., “sons of God,” as in Job 1.6; 2.1; Pss 29.1; 89.5–7).
32.9 Own portion. Cf. 7.6; Jer 10.16; Zech 2.12; Sir 17.17.
32.10–12 For the themes in this portrait of divine providence during the exodus-wilderness era, see esp. Jer 2.2–3, 6; Hos 2.14–15; 9.10; 13.4–6 (cf. also Deut 1.31; 2.7; Ex 15.13; 19.4; Isa 43.10–21).
32.10 Apple of his eye. Cf. Ps 17.8; Prov 7.2.
32.11 See Ex 19.4.
32.12 Foreign god. See note on 31.16.
32.13 Heights of the land (cf. Isa 58.14; Am 4.13; Mic 1.3) refers here to the highlands of Canaan (see 1.7; cf. Ex 15.17). Honey from the crags. See Ps 81.16.
32.14 Bashan. See note on 3.1.
32.15 Cf. 8.12–17; 31.20; Neh 9.25. The appellations Jacob and Jeshurun are also paralleled in Isa 44.2; the latter designation (rendered “beloved one, darling” in the Septuagint) is otherwise attested only in Deut 33.5, 26.
32.16 Strange gods. See Pss 44.20; 81.9; Isa 43.12; see also note on 31.16.
32.17 Demons are associated with abhorrent Canaanite rites in Ps 106.34–39. New ones. Cf. Judg 5.8.
32.18 For the imagery of divine maternity, complementing vv. 6–7, see Isa 49.15.
32.19–42 A divine soliloquy contemplating appropriate punishment of Israel’s apostasy (vv. 20–27, 34–35), alternates with the narrator’s voice (vv. 19, 28–33, 36).
32.19–21 The judgment announced is retaliatory, corresponding to the form of the crime (see note on 19.19–21 on talion). On jealousy as a divine attribute, see 4.24.
32.20 Hide my face, withdrawal of divine favor and protective presence, i.e., the converse of Num 6.25–26; see 31.17–18 (cf., e.g., Ps 13.1; Isa 8.17; Jer 33.5; Ezek 39.23–24).
32.21 No god is a categorical negation of the anonymous deities referred to in vv. 16–17. So too the anonymous adversary selected as the Lord’s instrument of revenge (no people, foolish nation) may be intentionally generic; cf. 28.49–50 (cf. Judg 2.14–15; Ps 79.1–7; Isa 9.11–12).
32.22–25 The onslaught of the Lord’s wrath is graphically plotted.
32.22 On fire as a weapon of divine warfare, see, e.g., Job 31.12; Ps 50.3; Am 1.4; cf. Deut 4.24. For portrayal of the catastrophic cosmic effects (consuming the depths of Sheol, i.e., the netherworld as well as the earth’s surface and foundations of the mountains), see esp. Ps 18.7–8; Am 7.4.
32.23–24 Pestilential arrows in the Lord’s arsenal (cf. also v. 42; Job 6.4; Pss 7.12–13; 18.14; Lam 3.12–13; Ezek 5.16; Hab 3.9) approximate covenantal curses (cf. Deut 28.21–22; Ps 78.49).
32.25 Cf. Jer 6.11; 9.20–22; Lam 1.20; 2.21; Ezek 7.15.
32.26–27 Divine wrath is restrained, short of Israel’s extinction, to thwart the foe’s triumphalism.
32.26 Blot out the memory. Cf. 25.19. Provocation, vainglory (cf. Isa 10.5–15). On the implied threat to the Lord’s reputation, cf., e.g., 9.26–29; Ex 32.11–14; Ps 74.18; Isa 48.9–11.
32.28–33 Descanting on the Lord’s deliberations, the poet or prophetic narrator here reproaches the arrogance and brutish character of the enemy.
32.28 Void of sense, or “lacking counsel” cf. Isa 10.13 (boast of Assyria’s king) and the ironical interrogation of Edom in Jer 49.7.
32.32 Sodom and Gomorrah. See note on 29.23.
32.34–35 The agent of chastisement will not itself escape judgment; cf. Isa 10.15–16 (Assyria); Jer 49.12–22 (Edom). See note on 30.7.
32.34 This, the foe’s transgression, which awaits divine requital (cf. Job 14.17; Hos 13.12).
32.35 Vengeance, retribution, vindication (cf., e.g., Judg 16.28; Ps 94.1–3; Isa 61.2). Recompense, equitable redress (Isa 59.18; cf. Hos 9.7). Day of their calamity. See, e.g., Job 21.30; Ps 18.18; Jer 18.17; Ob 12–13.
32.36–42 Promise of the Lord’s intervention as judge and warrior to exact retributive justice.
32.36 Prophetic proclamation of divine intent. Vindicate, or “judge,” refers to judicial review, here divine prosecution on Israel’s behalf (cf., e.g., Gen 15.14; Pss 7.8; 9.8; Isa 3.13); note the parallel in Ps 135.14. The sense of neither bond nor free seems to be “(almost) no one” (cf. 1 Kings 14.10; 21.21; 2 Kings 9.8; 14.26).
32.37–38 Interrogation of Israel (cf. Isa 40.25–31) or its adversaries (cf. Isa 41.1–4) or both (cf. Isa 43.8–13; 44.6–8). On mockery of impotent gods and those who foolishly worship them, see Judg 10.10–14; 1 Kings 18.27; Isa 46.1–2; Jer 2.26–28.
32.39 The unanswered queries support the Lord’s assertion of exclusive sovereignty, as often in the trial scenes of Second Isaiah (Isa 40.28–31; 41.4; 43.10–13; 44.6); cf. 4.32–40. Kill and…make alive. Cf. 1 Sam 2.6–8; Tob 13.2; Wis 16.13. I wound and I heal. See Job 5.18; Isa 30.26; Hos 6.1–2; cf. Ex 15.26.
32.40–42 Promissory oath of the Divine Warrior. As I live forever. Cf. Isa 49.18; Jer 22.24; Ezek 5.11; Zeph 2.9. For the themes and carnage depicted, see Isa 1.24; Jer 46.10; Nah 1.2. Portraits of the Lord’s retribution against Edom are noteworthy: Isa 34.5–7; 63.1–6; Ezek 25.12–14.
32.43 Concluding summons of the heavens to celebrate redemption of the Lord’s people (cf. Isa 49.13) forms an inclusio (a repetition signaling the beginning and end of a unit) with the appeal of v. 1. Subordination of the gods echoes vv. 8, 37. Cleanse, or “purify,” “expiate” see 21.8.
32.44–47 Principal strands of chs. 30–31 especially are woven together in this conclusion to the song and the Moab covenant. For the multiple, overlapping connotations of the leitmotif word(s), cf. 29.1, 9, 19, 29; 30.1 (things), 14; 31.1, 12, 24, 28, 30.
32.44 Joshua (or Hoshea; see text note e; cf. Num 13.8, 16) is now in place as Moses’ successor; see 31.14–15, 23.
32.47 A final admonition recalls the exhortations of 30.11–20 (cf. 4.26, 40; 6.1–2; Lev 18.5). No trifling matter, lit. “no empty word.” Through it, lit. “by this word.”
32.48–52 Transition to the pentateuchal account of Moses’ death in ch. 34. With this resumptive paraphrase of Num 27.12–14 (Priestly tradition; see Introduction to Genesis), cf. 3.23–27.
32.49 Nebo is a northern promontory of the A
barim range, which flanks the eastern shore of the Dead Sea (cf. 3.17, 27; 34.1; Num 33.47–48).
32.50 Gathered to your kin (or “people”). See, e.g., Gen 25.8; 35.29; 49.29, 33. For Aaron’s death on Mount Hor, see the Priestly account in Num 20.22–29; 33.38–39; cf. 10.6.
32.51 Broke faith. Cf. Ex 17.1–7; Ps 106.32; Num 20.1–13 (Priestly tradition; see Introduction to Genesis). Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin is apparently identical with the oasis of Kadesh-barnea in northern Sinai (see note on 1.2; cf. Josh 15.1–3; Ezek 47.19; 48.28).
DEUTERONOMY 33
Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel
1This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death. 2He said:
The LORD came from Sinai,
and dawned from Seir upon us;a
he shone forth from Mount Paran.
With him were myriads of holy ones;b
at his right, a host of his own.c
3Indeed, O favorite amongd peoples,
all his holy ones were in your charge;
they marched at your heels,
accepted direction from you.
4Moses charged us with the law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5There arose a king in Jeshurun,
when the leaders of the people assembled—
the united tribes of Israel.
6May Reuben live, and not die out,
even though his numbers are few.
7And this he said of Judah:
O LORD, give heed to Judah,
and bring him to his people;
strengthen his hands for him,e
and be a help against his adversaries.
8And of Levi he said:
Give to Levif your Thummim,
and your Urim to your loyal one,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah;
9who said of his father and mother,
“I regard them not”
he ignored his kin,
and did not acknowledge his children.
For they observed your word,
and kept your covenant.