Deuteronomy 29-32

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

III. Third Address

Chapter 29

Past Favors Recalled. ¹Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land, ²the great testings your own eyes have seen, and those great signs and wonders.^(A) ³But the Lord has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day.^(B) ⁴^(C)I led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes did not fall from you in tatters nor your sandals from your feet; ⁵it was not bread that you ate, nor wine or beer that you drank—so that you might know that I, the Lord, am your God. ⁶^(D)When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them ⁷and took their land, and gave it as a heritage to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^(E) ⁸Observe carefully the words of this covenant, therefore, in order that you may succeed in whatever you do.^(F)

All Israel Bound by Covenant. ⁹You are standing today, all of you, in the presence of the Lord, your God—your tribal heads, elders, and officials, all of the men of Israel, ¹⁰your children, your wives, and the resident alien who lives in your camp, from those who cut wood to those who draw water for you— ¹¹to enter into the covenant of the Lord, your God, which the Lord, your God, is making with you today, with its curse, ¹²so that he may establish you today as his people and he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹³^(G)But it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant, with its curse, ¹⁴but with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord, our God, and with those who are not here with us^[a] today.

Warning Against Idolatry. ¹⁵You know that we lived in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the nations, that you too passed through ¹⁶and saw the loathsome things and idols of wood and stone, of gold and silver, that they possess. ¹⁷There may be among you a man or woman, or a clan or tribe, whose heart is now turning away from the Lord, our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; there may be among you a root bearing poison and wormwood; ¹⁸if any such persons, after hearing the words of this curse, should congratulate themselves, saying in their hearts, “I am safe, even though I walk in stubbornness of heart,” thereby sweeping away moist and dry alike,^[b]^(H) ¹⁹the Lord will never consent to pardon them. Instead, the Lord’s burning wrath will flare up against them; every curse written in this book will pounce on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under the heavens.^(I) ²⁰The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

Punishment for Idolatry. ²¹^(J)Future generations, your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigners who will come here from distant lands, when they see the calamities of this land and the ills the Lord has inflicted upon it— ²²all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, unsown and unfruitful, without a blade of grass, like the catastrophe of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(K) Admah and Zeboiim,^[c] which the Lord overthrew in his furious wrath— ²³^(L)they and all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this land? Why this great outburst of wrath?” ²⁴And they will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁵and they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know and whom he had not apportioned to them.^(M) ²⁶^(N)So the anger of the Lord flared up against this land and brought on it every curse written in this book. ²⁷The Lord uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them out into another land, as they are today.” ²⁸The hidden things^[d] belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and for our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

Chapter 30

Compassion for the Repentant. ¹^[e]^(O)When all these things, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, come upon you,^(P) and you take them to heart in any of the nations where the Lord, your God, has dispersed you, ²^(Q)and return to the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your children, with your whole heart and your whole being, ³the Lord, your God, will restore your fortunes and will have compassion on you; he will again gather you from all the peoples where the Lord, your God, has scattered you. ⁴Though you may have been dispersed to the farthest corner of the heavens, even from there will the Lord, your God, gather you; even from there will he bring you back.^(R) ⁵The Lord, your God, will then bring you into the land your ancestors once possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.^(S) ⁶The Lord, your God, will circumcise your hearts^[f] and the hearts of your descendants,^(T) so that you will love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, in order that you may live. ⁷The Lord, your God, will put all those curses on your enemies and the foes who pursued you.^(U) ⁸You, however, shall again obey the voice of the Lord and observe all his commandments which I am giving you today. ⁹Then the Lord, your God, will generously increase your undertakings, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil;^(V) for the Lord, your God, will again take delight in your prosperity, just as he took delight in your ancestors’, ¹⁰because you will obey the voice of the Lord, your God, keeping the commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being.

¹¹^(W)For this command which I am giving you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. ¹²It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” ¹³Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” ¹⁴No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth^[g] and in your heart, to do it.

The Choice Before Israel. ¹⁵See, I have today set before you life and good, death and evil.^(X) ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the Lord, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.^(Y) ¹⁷^(Z)If, however, your heart turns away and you do not obey, but are led astray and bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I tell you today that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:^(AA) I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰by loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.^(AB)

Chapter 31

The Lord’s Leadership. ¹When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel, ²he said to them, I am now one hundred and twenty years old^(AC) and am no longer able to go out and come in; besides, the Lord has said to me, Do not cross this Jordan. ³It is the Lord, your God, who will cross before you; he will destroy these nations before you, that you may dispossess them.^(AD) (It is Joshua who will cross before you, as the Lord promised.) ⁴^(AE)The Lord will deal with them just as he dealt with Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and with their country, when he destroyed them. ⁵When, therefore, the Lord delivers them up to you, you shall deal with them according to the whole commandment which I have given you.^(AF) ⁶Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the Lord, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you.^(AG)

Call of Joshua. ⁷Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him,^(AH) “Be strong and steadfast, for you shall bring this people into the land which the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them; it is you who will give them possession of it. ⁸It is the Lord who goes before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.”^(AI)

The Reading of the Law. ⁹^(AJ)When Moses had written down this law, he gave it to the levitical priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.^(AK) ¹⁰Moses commanded them, saying, On the feast of Booths,^(AL) at the prescribed time in the year for remission^[h] which comes at the end of every seven-year period, ¹¹when all Israel goes to appear before the Lord, your God, in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law aloud in the presence of all Israel. ¹²Assemble the people—men, women and children, as well as the resident aliens who live in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to fear the Lord, your God, and to observe carefully all the words of this law. ¹³Their children also, who do not know it yet, shall hear and learn to fear the Lord, your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.

Commission to Joshua. ¹⁴^(AM)The Lord said to Moses, The time is now approaching for you to die. Summon Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting that I may commission him. So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And the Lord appeared at the tent in a column of cloud; the column of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent.

A Command to Moses. ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, Soon you will be at rest with your ancestors, and then this people will prostitute themselves^[i] by following the foreign gods among whom they will live in the land they are about to enter.^(AN) They will forsake me and break the covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷^(AO)At that time my anger will flare up against them; I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become a prey to be devoured, and much evil and distress will befall them. At that time they will indeed say, “Is it not because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us?” ¹⁸Yet I will surely hide my face at that time because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods. ¹⁹Now, write out this song^(AP) for yourselves. Teach it to the Israelites and have them recite it, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten and are satisfied and have grown fat, if they turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant, ²¹then, when great evil and distress befall them, this song will speak to them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten if their descendants recite it. For I know what they are inclined to do even at the present time, before I have brought them into the land which I promised on oath. ²²So Moses wrote this song that same day, and he taught it to the Israelites.

Commission of Joshua. ²³Then he commissioned Joshua, son of Nun, and said to him, Be strong and steadfast, for it is you who will bring the Israelites into the land which I promised them on oath.^(AQ) I myself will be with you.

The Law Placed in the Ark. ²⁴When Moses had finished writing out on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, ²⁵Moses gave the Levites^(AR) who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord this order: ²⁶Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God, that there it may be a witness against you.^(AS) ²⁷For I already know how rebellious and stiff-necked you will be. Why, even now, while I am alive among you, you have been rebels against the Lord! How much more, then, after I am dead!^(AT) ²⁸^(AU)Assemble all your tribal elders and your officials before me, that I may speak these words for them to hear and so may call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹^(AV)For I know that after my death you are sure to act corruptly and to turn aside from the way along which I commanded you, so that evil will befall you in time to come because you have done what is evil in the Lord’s sight, and provoked him by your deeds.

The Song of Moses. ³⁰Then Moses recited the words of this song in their entirety, for the whole assembly of Israel to hear:

Chapter 32

¹^[j]Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
    let the earth hear the words of my mouth!^(AW)
²May my teaching soak in like the rain,
    and my utterance drench like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
    like a shower upon the crops.
³For I will proclaim the name of the Lord,
    praise the greatness of our God!

⁴The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he!^(AX)

⁵Yet his degenerate children have treated him basely,
    a twisted and crooked generation!^(AY)
⁶Is this how you repay the Lord,
    so foolish and unwise a people?
Is he not your father who begot you,
    the one who made and established you?^(AZ)

⁷Remember the days of old,
    consider the years of generations past.
Ask your father, he will inform you,
    your elders, they will tell you:^(BA)
⁸When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
    when he separated out human beings,^(BB)
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
    after the number of the divine beings;^[k]
⁹But the Lord’s portion was his people;
    his allotted share was Jacob.^(BC)

¹⁰He found them in a wilderness,
    a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them, cared for them,
    guarded them as the apple of his eye.^(BD)
¹¹As an eagle incites its nestlings,
    hovering over its young,
So he spread his wings, took them,
    bore them upon his pinions.^(BE)
¹²The Lord alone guided them,
    no foreign god was with them.^(BF)

¹³^(BG)He had them mount the summits of the land,^[l]
    fed them the produce of its fields;
He suckled them with honey from the crags
    and olive oil from the flinty rock;
¹⁴Butter from cows and milk from sheep,
    with the best of lambs;
Bashan^[m] bulls and goats,
    with the cream of finest wheat;
    and the foaming blood of grapes you drank.

¹⁵So Jacob ate and was satisfied,
    Jeshurun^[n] 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.^(BH)
¹⁶With strange gods they incited him,
    with abominations provoked him to anger.^(BI)
¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, to “no-gods,”
    to gods they had never known,
Newcomers from afar,
    before whom your ancestors had never trembled.
¹⁸You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
    you forgot the God who gave you birth.^(BJ)

¹⁹The Lord saw and was filled with loathing,
    provoked by his sons and daughters.^(BK)
²⁰He 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!^(BL)
²¹Since they have incited me with a “no-god,”
    and provoked me with their empty idols,
I will incite them with a “no-people”;^[o]
    with a foolish nation I will provoke them.^(BM)
²²For 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.^(BN)
²³I will heap evils upon them
    and exhaust all my arrows against them:^(BO)
²⁴Emaciating 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.^(BP)
²⁵Out 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.^(BQ)
²⁶I said: I will make an end of them
    and blot out their name from human memory,
²⁷Had 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.”^(BR)
²⁸For they are a nation devoid of reason,^[p]
    having no understanding.
²⁹If they had insight they would realize this,
    they would understand their end:
³⁰“How could one rout a thousand,
    or two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless it was because their Rock sold them,
    the Lord delivered them up?”

³¹Indeed, their “rock” is not like our Rock;
    our enemies are fools.
³²For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
    from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
    and their clusters are bitter.^(BS)
³³Their wine is the venom of serpents,
    the cruel poison of vipers.
³⁴Is not this stored up with me,
    sealed up in my storehouses?
³⁵Vengeance is mine and recompense,
    for the time they lose their footing;
Because the day of their disaster is at hand
    and their doom is rushing upon them!^(BT)

³⁶Surely, the Lord will do justice for his people;
    on his servants he will have pity.
When he sees their strength is gone,
    and neither bond nor free^[q] is left,^(BU)
³⁷He will say, Where are their gods,^(BV)
    the rock in whom they took refuge,
³⁸Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up now and help you!
    Let them be your protection!
³⁹See now that I, I alone, am he,
    and there is no god besides me.
It is I who bring both death and life,
    I who inflict wounds and heal them,
    and from my hand no one can deliver.^(BW)
⁴⁰For I raise my hand to the heavens
    and will say: As surely as I live forever,
⁴¹When I sharpen my flashing sword,
    and my hand lays hold of judgment,
With vengeance I will repay my foes
    and requite those who hate me.^(BX)
⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    and my sword shall devour flesh—
With the blood of the slain and the captured,
    from the long-haired heads of the enemy.

⁴³Exult with him, you heavens,
    bow to him, all you divine beings!
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
    take vengeance on his foes;
He will requite those who hate him,
    and purge his people’s land.^(BY)

⁴⁴So Moses, together with Hoshea,^[r] son of Nun, went and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.^(BZ)

Final Appeal. ⁴⁵When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them,^(CA) Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today, words you should command your children, that they may observe carefully every word of this law. ⁴⁷For this is no trivial matter for you, but rather your very life; by this word you will enjoy a long life on the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.^(CB)

Moses Looks upon Canaan. ⁴⁸On that very day the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹Ascend this mountain of the Abarim,^[s] Mount Nebo in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.^(CC) ⁵⁰Then you shall die on the mountain you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor^[t] and there was gathered to his people,^(CD) ⁵¹because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin: you did not manifest my holiness among the Israelites.^[u]^(CE) ⁵²You may indeed see the land from a distance, but you shall not enter that land which I am giving to the Israelites.^(CF)

Footnotes

29:14 Not here with us: this includes future generations. This attitude appears also in 5:3.
29:18 Sweeping away moist and dry alike: possibly a proverbial expression: because of Israel’s infidelity the Lord will punish the just with the wicked (cf. Gn 18:25), rooting out good plants in irrigated soil, together with worthless plants growing in dry ground.
29:22 Admah and Zeboiim: neighboring cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Jordan Plain and identified in the tradition as destroyed with them. Cf. Hos 11:8; Jer 50:40.
29:28 The hidden things: probably the events of the future. The revealed things: the covenant and its provisions, including the sanctions of blessing and curse. This aphorism may mean: leave “hidden things” to God; what matters is to keep the law.
30:1–5 Text such as this suggests a postexilic perspective; cf. also chaps. 31–32.
30:6 Circumcise your hearts: see note on 10:16.
30:14 In your mouth: that is, memorized and recited; cf. 6:7; 11:19. And in your heart: internalized and appropriated; cf. 6:6; 11:18.
31:10 The year for remission: cf. 15:1–3 and note there.
31:16 Prostitute themselves: lit., “whore after,” a play on the phrase “go after,” viz. after other gods.
32:1–43 The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel (vv. 1–14) and Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the nations; these sins will be punished by the nations themselves (vv. 15–29); in turn, the foolish pride of the nations will be punished, and the Lord’s honor will be vindicated (vv. 30–43).
32:8 Divine beings: lit., “sons of God” (see also v. 43); members of the divine assembly; cf. 1 Kgs 22:19; Jb 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 82; 89:6–7. The nations are portrayed as having their respective tutelary deities.
32:13 The land: Canaan.
32:14 Bashan: a fertile grazing land east of the Jordan, famous for its sleek, strong cattle. Cf. Ps 22:13; Ez 39:18; Am 4:1.
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.
32:36 Neither bond nor free: an all-inclusive expression; cf. 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 9:8.
32:44 Hoshea: a variant of “Joshua.” Cf. note on Nm 13:16.
32:49 Abarim: probably the mountain range to the east of the Dead Sea.
32:50 Mount Hor: on the western border of Seir or Edom; cf. Nm 20:23–28; 33:37–38. Dt 10:6 locates elsewhere the place of Aaron’s death.
32:51 Cf. note on 3:26.

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Deuteronomy 29-32 New American Bible (Revised Edition)