March 7
Deuteronomy 32:29 —
34:12
29 O
that they were wise! Then they would ponder over this.
They would consider their end afterward.
30 How could one pursue a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight?
Not unless their Rock had sold them
And Jehovah had surrendered them.
31 For their rock is not like our
Rock,
Even our enemies being the ones to decide.
32 For their vine is from the vine
of Sodom
And from the terraces of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
Their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of big
snakes
And the cruel poison of cobras.
34 Is it not laid up with me,
With a seal affixed to it in my storehouse?
35 Vengeance is mine, and
retribution.
At the appointed time their foot will move unsteadily,
For the day of their disaster is near,
And the events in readiness for them do make haste.’
36 For Jehovah will judge his
people
And he will feel regret over his servants,
Because he will see that support has disappeared
And there is only a helpless and worthless one.
37 And he will certainly say,
‘Where are their gods,
The rock in whom they sought refuge,
38 Who used to eat the fat of their
sacrifices,
To drink the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them get up and help YOU.
Let them become a concealment place for YOU.
39 SEE now that I—I am he
And there are no gods together with me.
I put to death, and I make alive.
I have severely wounded, and I—I will heal,
And there is no one snatching out of my hand.
40 For
I raise my hand to heaven [in an oath],
And I do say: “As I am alive to time indefinite,”
41 If I do indeed sharpen my
glittering sword,
And my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will pay back vengeance to my adversaries
And render retribution to those who intensely hate me.
42 I shall intoxicate my arrows
with blood,
While my sword will eat flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
With the heads of the leaders of the enemy.’
43 Be glad, YOU nations, with his
people,
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
And he will pay back vengeance to his adversaries
And will indeed make atonement for the ground of his people.”
44 Thus Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 After Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he went on to say to them: “Apply YOUR hearts to all the words that I am speaking in warning to YOU today, that YOU may command YOUR sons to take care to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no valueless word for YOU, but it means YOUR life, and by this word YOU may lengthen YOUR days upon the soil to which YOU are crossing the Jordan to take possession of it.”
48 And
Jehovah proceeded to speak to Moses on this same day, saying:
49 “Go
up into this mountain of Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab,
which fronts toward Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to
the sons of Israel as a possession.
50 Then
die on the mountain into which you are going up, and be gathered to your people,
just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and got to be gathered to his
people;
51 for
the reason that YOU men acted undutifully toward me in the middle of the sons of
Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin; for the
reason that YOU men did not sanctify me in the middle of the sons of Israel.
52 For
from a distance you will see the land, but you will not go there into the land
that I am giving to the sons of Israel.”
33 Now
this is the blessing with which Moses the man of the [true] God blessed the sons
of Israel before his death.
2 And he
proceeded to say:
“Jehovah—from Sinai
he came,
And he flashed forth from Seir upon them.
He beamed forth from the
mountainous region of Paran,
And with him were holy myriads,
At his right hand
warriors belonging to them.
3 He was
also cherishing his people;
All their holy ones are in your hand.
And they—they reclined at your feet;
They began to receive some of your words.
4 (Moses
laid as a command upon us a law,
A possession of the congregation of Jacob.)
5 And he
came to be king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people gathered themselves,
The entire number of the tribes of
Israel.
6 Let
Reuben live and not die off,
And let his men [not] become few.”
7 And
this was Judah’s [blessing], as he went on to say:
“Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah,
And may you bring him to his people.
His arms have contended for what is his;
And may you prove yourself a helper
from his adversaries.”
8 And as
to Levi he said:
“Your Thummim and your Urim belong to the man loyal to
you,
Whom you put to the test at Massah.
You began to contend with him by the waters of Meribah,
9 The
man who said to his father and his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’
Even his brothers he did not acknowledge,
And his sons he did not know.
For they kept your saying,
And your covenant they continued to
observe.
10 Let
them instruct Jacob in your judicial decisions
And Israel in your law.
Let them render up incense before
your nostrils
And a whole offering on your altar.
11 Bless,
O Jehovah, his vital energy,
And may you show pleasure in the activity of his hands.
Wound severely in their hips those
who rise up against him,
And those who intensely hate him, that they may not
rise up.”
12 As to
Benjamin he said:
“Let the beloved one of Jehovah reside in security by
him,
While he shelters him the whole day,
And he must reside between his shoulders.”
13 And
as to Joseph he said:
“May his land be continually blessed from Jehovah
With the choice things of heaven,
with dew,
And with the watery deep lying down below,
14 And
with the choice things, the products of the sun,
And with the choice things, the yield
of the lunar months,
15 And
with the choicest from the mountains of the east,
And with the choice things of the
indefinitely lasting hills,
16 And
with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
And with the approval of the One
residing in the thornbush.
May they come upon the head of Joseph
And upon the crown of the head of the
one singled out from his brothers.
17 As
the firstborn of a bull his splendor is,
And his horns are the horns of a wild bull.
With them he will push peoples
All together to the ends of the earth,
And they are the tens of thousands of
Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18 And
as to Zebulun he said:
“Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out,
And, Issachar, in your tents.
19 Peoples
to the mountain they will call.
There they will sacrifice the sacrifices of
righteousness.
For they will suck the abounding
wealth of the seas
And the hidden hoards of the sand.”
20 And
as to Gad he said:
“Blessed is the one widening the borders of Gad.
As a lion he must reside,
And he must tear the arm, yes, the crown of the head.
21 And
he will pick out the first part for himself,
For there the allotment of a statute-giver is reserved.
And the heads of the people will
gather themselves together.
The righteousness of Jehovah will he certainly execute
And his judicial decisions with
Israel.”
22 And
as to Dan he said:
“Dan is a lion cub.
He will leap out from Bashan.”
23 And
as to Naphtali he said:
“Naphtali is satisfied with the approval
And full of the blessing of Jehovah.
Do take possession of the west and
south.”
24 And
as to Asher he said:
“Blessed with sons is Asher.
Let him become one approved by his
brothers,
And one dipping his foot in oil.
25 Iron
and copper are your gate locks,
And in proportion to your days is
your leisurely walk.
26 There
is none like the [true] God of Jeshurun,
Who rides upon heaven in help of you.
And upon cloudy skies in his
eminence.
27 A
hiding place is the God of ancient time,
And underneath are the indefinitely
lasting arms.
And he will drive away from before you the enemy,
And he will say, ‘Annihilate [them]!’
28 And
Israel will reside in security,
The fountain of Jacob by itself,
Upon a land of grain and new wine.
Yes, his heavens will let the dew
drip down.
29 Happy
you are, O Israel!
Who is there like you,
A people enjoying salvation in
Jehovah,
The shield of your help,
And the One who is your eminent
sword?
So your enemies will cringe before you,
And you—upon their high places you
will tread.”
34 Then
Moses proceeded to go up from the desert plains of Moab into Mount Nebo, to
the top of Pisgah, which fronts toward Jericho. And Jehovah went showing him
all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,
2 and
all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all the land of
Judah as far as the western sea,
3 and
the Negeb and the District, the valley plain of Jericho, the city of the palm
trees, as far as Zoar.
4 And Jehovah went on to say to him: “This is the land about which I have sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘To your seed I shall give it.’ I have caused you to see it with your own eyes, as you will not cross over there.”
5 After that Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab at the order of Jehovah. 6 And he proceeded to bury him in the valley in the land of Moab in front of Beth-peor, and nobody has come to know his grave down to this day. 7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old at his death. His eye had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled. 8 And the sons of Israel proceeded to weep for Moses on the desert plains of Moab thirty days. At length the days of weeping of the mourning period for Moses were completed.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hand upon him; and the sons of Israel began to listen to him and they went doing just as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 10 But there has never yet risen up a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face, 11 as respects all the signs and the miracles that Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, 12 and as regards all the strong hand and all the great awesomeness that Moses exercised before the eyes of all Israel.