Deuteronomy 32:15-44
Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled— you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices.They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.You ignored the Rock who gave you birth; you forgot the God who gave birth to you.When the Lord saw this, He despised them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.He said:“ I will hide My face from them; I will see what will become of them, for they are a perverse generation— unfaithful children.They have provoked My jealousy with their so-called gods; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will provoke their jealousy with an inferior people; I will enrage them with a foolish nation.For fire has been kindled because of My anger and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the land and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.“ I will pile disasters on them; I will use up My arrows against them.They will be weak from hunger, ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs, as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, there will be terror; the young man and the young woman will be killed, the infant and the gray-haired man.“ I would have said: I will cut them to pieces and blot out the memory of them from mankind,if I had not feared insult from the enemy, or feared that these foes might misunderstand and say:‘ Our own hand has prevailed; it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’”Israel is a nation lacking sense with no understanding at all.If only they were wise, they would figure it out; they would understand their fate.How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?But their“ rock” is not like our Rock; even our enemies concede.For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.Their wine is serpents’ venom, the deadly poison of cobras.“ Is it not stored up with Me, sealed up in My vaults?Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”The Lord will indeed vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one is left— slave or free.He will say:“ Where are their gods, the‘ rock’ they found refuge in?Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it be a shelter for you.See now that I alone am He; there is no God but Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal. No one can rescue anyone from My hand.I raise My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,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.I will make My arrows drunk with blood while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants. He will take vengeance on His adversaries; He will purify His land and His people.Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people.
