Study Desk

Then^[g] Jeshurun^[h](f) became fat and rebelled— you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices.^(g)

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.^(h)

You ignored the Rock who gave you birth; you forgot the God who gave birth to you.

When the Lord saw this, He despised them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

He said: "I will hide My face from them; I will see what will become of them, for they are a perverse generation— unfaithful children.

They have provoked My jealousy with their so-called gods;^[i] they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will provoke their jealousy with an inferior people;^[j] I will enrage them with a foolish nation.⁽ⁱ⁾

For fire has been kindled because of My anger and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the land and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

"I will pile disasters on them; I will use up My arrows against them.

They will be weak from hunger, ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs, as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.

Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, there will be terror; the young man and the young woman will be killed, the infant and the gray-haired man.^(j)

"I would have said: I will cut them to pieces^[k] and blot out the memory of them from mankind,

if I had not feared insult from the enemy, or feared that these foes might misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it wasn't the Lord who did all this.'"

Israel is a nation lacking sense with no understanding at all.^[l]

If only they were wise, they would figure it out; they would understand their fate.

How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?

But their "rock" is not like our Rock; even our enemies concede.

For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.

Their wine is serpents' venom, the deadly poison of cobras.

"Is it not stored up with Me, sealed up in My vaults?

Vengeance^[m] belongs to Me; I will repay.^[n](k) In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly."

The Lord will indeed vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants^(l) when He sees that their strength is gone and no one is left—slave or free.

He will say: "Where are their gods, the ‘rock' they found refuge in?

Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it^[o] be a shelter for you.

See now that I alone am He; there is no God but Me.^(m) I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal. No one can rescue anyone from My hand.⁽ⁿ⁾

I raise My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,

when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold of judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

I will make My arrows drunk with blood while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders."^[p]

Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people,^[q](o) for He will avenge the blood of His servants.^[r] He will take vengeance on His adversaries;^[s](p) He will purify His land and His people.^[t]

Moses came with Joshua^[u] son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people.

After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel,

he said to them, "Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses,^(q)

"Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession.

Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.^(r)

For both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.

Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there."^(s)

This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death.^(a)

He said: The Lord came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; He shone on them from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones,^[a] with lightning^[b] from His right hand^[c] for them.^(b)

Indeed He loves the people.^[d](c) All Your^[e] holy ones^[f] are in Your hand, and they assemble^[g] at Your feet. Each receives Your words.

Moses gave us instruction, a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

So He became King in Jeshurun^[h] when the leaders of the people gathered with the tribes of Israel.

Let Reuben live and not die though his people become few.^(d)

He said this about Judah: Lord , hear Judah's cry and bring him to his people. He fights for his cause^[i] with his own hands, but may You be a help against his foes.

He said about Levi: Your Thummim and Urim belong to Your faithful one;^[j] You tested him at Massah and contended with him at the waters of Meribah.^(e)

He said about his father and mother, "I do not regard them." He disregarded his brothers and didn't acknowledge his sons, for they kept Your word and maintained Your covenant.^(f)

They will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your instruction to Israel;^(g) they will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

Lord , bless his possessions,^[k] and accept the work of his hands. Smash the loins of his adversaries and enemies, so that they cannot rise again.

He said about Benjamin: The Lord 's beloved rests^[l] securely on Him. He^[m] shields him all day long, and he rests on His shoulders.^[n]

He said about Joseph: May his land be blessed by the Lord with the dew of heaven's bounty and the watery depths that lie beneath;^(h)

with the bountiful harvest from the sun and the abundant yield of the seasons;

with the best products of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the eternal hills;

with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it; and with the favor of Him who appeared^[o] in the burning bush.⁽ⁱ⁾ May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince of his brothers.^(j)

His firstborn bull has^[p] splendor, and horns like^[q] those of a wild ox; he gores all the peoples with them to the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.

He said about Zebulun: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents.

They summon the peoples to a mountain; there they offer acceptable sacrifices. For they draw from the wealth of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.^(k)

He said about Gad: The one who enlarges Gad's territory will be blessed. He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or even a head.^(l)

He chose the best part for himself, because a ruler's portion was assigned there for him. He came with the leaders of the people; he carried out the Lord 's justice and His ordinances for Israel.^(m)

He said about Dan: Dan is a young lion, leaping out of Bashan.⁽ⁿ⁾

He said about Naphtali: Naphtali, enjoying approval, full of the Lord 's blessing, take^[r] possession to the west and the south.

He said about Asher: May Asher^[s] be the most blessed of the sons; may he be the most favored among his brothers and dip his foot in olive oil.^[t](o)

May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and your strength last as long as you live.

There is none like the God of Jeshurun,^[u] who rides the heavens to your aid, the clouds in His majesty.^(p)

The God of old is your dwelling place,^(q) and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you and commands, "Destroy!"

So Israel dwells securely; Jacob lives untroubled^[v](r) in a land of grain and new wine; even his skies drip with dew.^(s)

How happy you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord ? He is the shield that protects you, the sword you boast in. Your enemies will cringe before you,^(t) and you will tread on their backs.^[w](u)

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,^(a) which faces Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,

all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean^[a] Sea,

the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

The Lord then said to him, "This is the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will give it to your descendants.'^(b) I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it."

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said.

He buried him^[b] in the valley^(c) in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows where his grave is.^(d)

Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not left him.

The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.^(e)

He was unparalleled for all the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do against the land of Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land,

and for all the mighty acts of power and terrifying deeds that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.