Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 32:19-42
Context32:19 But the Lord took note and despised them
because his sons and daughters enraged him.
32:20 He said, “I will reject them, 1
I will see what will happen to them;
for they are a perverse generation,
children 2 who show no loyalty.
32:21 They have made me jealous 3 with false gods, 4
enraging me with their worthless gods; 5
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, 6
with a nation slow to learn 7 I will enrage them.
32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol; 8
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
32:23 I will increase their 9 disasters,
I will use up my arrows on them.
32:24 They will be starved by famine,
eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; 10
I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,
along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy 11 both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. 12
I want to make people forget they ever existed.
32:27 But I fear the reaction 13 of their enemies,
for 14 their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, “Our power is great, 15
and the Lord has not done all this!”’
32:28 They are a nation devoid of wisdom,
and there is no understanding among them.
32:29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this,
and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”
32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, 16
and two pursue ten thousand;
unless their Rock had delivered them up, 17
and the Lord had handed them over?
32:31 For our enemies’ 18 rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies concede.
32:32 For their vine is from the stock 19 of Sodom,
and from the fields of Gomorrah. 20
Their grapes contain venom,
their clusters of grapes are bitter.
32:33 Their wine is snakes’ poison,
the deadly venom of cobras.
32:34 “Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, 21
“Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?
32:35 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 22 is rushing upon them!”
32:36 The Lord will judge his people,
and will change his plans concerning 23 his servants;
when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
32:37 He will say, “Where are their gods,
the rock in whom they sought security,
32:38 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!
32:39 “See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, 24
“and there is no other god besides me.
I kill and give life,
I smash and I heal,
and none can resist 25 my power.
32:40 For I raise up my hand to heaven,
and say, ‘As surely as I live forever,
32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,
and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; 26
I will execute vengeance on my foes,
and repay those who hate me! 27
32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh –
the blood of the slaughtered and captured,
the chief 28 of the enemy’s leaders!’”
[32:20] 1 tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”
[32:20] 2 tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”
[32:21] 3 sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.
[32:21] 4 tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”
[32:21] 5 tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).
[32:21] 6 tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
[32:21] 7 tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”
[32:22] 8 tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”
[32:24] 10 tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).
[32:25] 11 tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.
[32:26] 12 tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).
[32:27] 15 tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”
[32:30] 16 tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[32:30] 17 tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[32:31] 18 tn Heb “their,” but the referent (enemies) is specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
[32:32] 20 sn Sodom…Gomorrah. The term “vine” is a reference to the pagan deities which, the passage says, find their ultimate source in Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, in the soil of perversion exemplified by these places (cf. Gen 18:20; 19:4-28; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Ezek 16:44-52; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24).
[32:34] 21 tn Verses 34-35 appear to be a quotation of the
[32:35] 22 tn Heb “prepared things,” “impending things.” See BDB 800 s.v. עָתִיד.
[32:36] 23 tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.
[32:39] 24 tn Verses 39-42 appear to be a quotation of the
[32:39] 25 tn Heb “deliver from” (so NRSV, NLT).
[32:41] 26 tn Heb “judgment.” This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.
[32:41] 27 tn The Hebrew term שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see note on the word “rejecting” in Deut 5:9; also see Deut 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).
[32:42] 28 tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).
