Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 32:1-5
Context32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,
my sayings will drip like the dew, 1
as rain drops upon the grass,
and showers upon new growth.
32:3 For I will proclaim the name 2 of the Lord;
you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.
32:4 As for the Rock, 3 his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just.
He is a reliable God who is never unjust,
he is fair 4 and upright.
32:5 His people have been unfaithful 5 to him;
they have not acted like his children 6 – this is their sin. 7
They are a perverse 8 and deceitful generation.
[32:2] 1 tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.
[32:3] 2 tc Smr and Tg read “in the name.”
[32:4] 3 tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”
[32:4] 4 tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).
[32:5] 5 tc The 3rd person masculine singular שָׁחַת (shakhat) is rendered as 3rd person masculine plural by Smr, a reading supported by the plural suffix on מוּם (mum, “defect”) as well as the plural of בֵּן (ben, “sons”).
[32:5] 6 tn Heb “(they are) not his sons.”
[32:5] 7 tn Heb “defect” (so NASB). This highly elliptical line suggests that Israel’s major fault was its failure to act like God’s people; in fact, they acted quite the contrary.
