Deuteronomy 32:15-29
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
15 So Jacob ate and was satisfied,
Jeshurun[a] grew fat and kicked;
you became fat and gross and gorged.
They forsook the God who made them
and scorned the Rock of their salvation.(A)
16 With strange gods they incited him,
with abominations provoked him to anger.(B)
17 They sacrificed to demons, to “no-gods,”
to gods they had never known,
Newcomers from afar,
before whom your ancestors had never trembled.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
you forgot the God who gave you birth.(C)
19 The Lord saw and was filled with loathing,
provoked by his sons and daughters.(D)
20 He said, I will hide my face from them,
and see what becomes of them.
For they are a fickle generation,
children with no loyalty in them!(E)
21 Since they have incited me with a “no-god,”
and provoked me with their empty idols,
I will incite them with a “no-people”;[b]
with a foolish nation I will provoke them.(F)
22 For by my wrath a fire is kindled
that has raged to the depths of Sheol,
It has consumed the earth with its yield,
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.(G)
23 I will heap evils upon them
and exhaust all my arrows against them:(H)
24 Emaciating hunger and consuming fever
and bitter pestilence,
And the teeth of wild beasts I will send among them,
with the venom of reptiles gliding in the dust.(I)
25 Out in the street the sword shall bereave,
and at home the terror
For the young man and the young woman alike,
the nursing babe as well as the gray beard.(J)
26 I said: I will make an end of them
and blot out their name from human memory,
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
that their foes might misunderstand,
And say, “Our own hand won the victory;
the Lord had nothing to do with any of it.”(K)
28 For they are a nation devoid of reason,[c]
having no understanding.
29 If they had insight they would realize this,
they would understand their end:
Footnotes
- 32:15 Jeshurun: a term for Israel from yashar, meaning “upright”; its use here is possibly ironic.
- 32:21 “No-god”…“no-people”: worship of the gods of the nations brings destruction at the hands of a foreign invader. A false god cannot sustain or protect (cf. Jer 14:22); and though the nations seem “foolish” (see their characterization in such passages as Ps 114:1; Is 28:11; 33:19), they will prove to be anything but nonentities when the Lord stirs them up against Israel (Is 9:10–12). For the “no-” or “not-” construction, see Hos 1:6, 9; 2:1, 25.
- 32:28–35 The reference is to the nations, not to Israel.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.