| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Hear, heavens, and I will speak! Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth! | 1Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak; listen, earth, to the words of my mouth. |
| 2May my instructions descend like rain and may my words flow like dew, as light rain upon the grass, and as showers upon new plants. | 2Let my teaching fall like rain and my word settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass and showers on tender plants. |
| 3For I'll proclaim the name of our LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God! | 3For I will proclaim Yahweh's name. Declare the greatness of our God! |
| 4Flawless is the work of the Rock, because all his ways are just. A faithful God—never unjust— righteous and upright is he. | 4The Rock--His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true. |
| 5But those who are not his children acted corruptly against him; they are a defective and perverted generation. | 5His people have acted corruptly toward Him; this is their defect--they are not His children but a devious and crooked generation. |
| 6This is not the way to repay the LORD, is it, you foolish and witless people? Is he not your father, who bought you, formed you, and established you? | 6Is this how you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you? |
| 7Remember the days of old, reflect on the years of previous generations. Ask your father, and he'll tell you; your elders will inform you. | 7Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you. |
| 8When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance, when he separated the human race, he set boundaries for the people according to the number of the children of God. | 8When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel. |
| 9For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is his allotted portion. | 9But the LORD's portion is His people, Jacob, His own inheritance. |
| 10The LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye. | 10He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of His eye. |
| 11Like an eagle stirs its nest, hovering near its young, spreading out his wings to take him and carry him on his pinions, | 11He watches over His nest like an eagle and hovers over His young; He spreads His wings, catches him, and lifts him up on His pinions. |
| 12the LORD alone guided him. There was no foreign god with him. | 12The LORD alone led him, with no help from a foreign god. |
| 13He mounted him on a high place above the earth, feeding him from the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flint rock, | 13He made him ride on the heights of the land and eat the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from flint-like rock, |
| 14with curds from cattle and with milk from sheep, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, with the fat of goats, with the finest of wheat— and from the juice of grapes you drank wine. | 14cream from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat; you drank wine from the finest grapes. |
| 15Jacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation. | 15Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled-- you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation. |
| 16They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. | 16They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices. |
| 17They sacrificed to demons— not to the real God— gods whom they didn't know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared. | 17They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear. |
| 18You neglected the Rock that fathered you; you abandoned God, who was awaiting your birth. | 18You ignored the Rock who gave you birth; you forgot the God who gave birth to you. |
| 19The LORD saw it and became jealous, provoked by his sons and daughters. | 19When the LORD saw this, He despised them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters. |
| 20So he said: "Let me hide my face from them. I will observe what their end will be, because they are a perverted generation, children within whom there is no loyalty. | 20He said: "I will hide My face from them; I will see what will become of them, for they are a perverse generation-- unfaithful children. |
| 21They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I'll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I'll provoke them to anger. | 21They have provoked My jealousy with their so-called gods; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will provoke their jealousy with an inferior people; I will enrage them with a foolish nation. |
| 22For a fire breaks out in my anger— burning to the deepest part of the afterlife, consuming the earth and its produce and igniting the foundations of the mountains. | 22For 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." |
| 23I'll bury them in misfortunes and bring them to an end with my arrows. | 23I will pile disasters on them; I will use up My arrows against them. |
| 24Emaciated from famine, feverish from plague, and destroyed by bitterness, I'll send fanged beasts against them, along with poisonous snakes that glide through the dust. | 24They 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. |
| 25Outside, the sword will cause bereavement; within, there will be terror for the young man and virgin alike, also for the nursing infant and the aged man." | 25Outside, 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." |
| 26"I said, 'I will scatter them, erasing their memory from the human race, | 26I would have said: I will cut them to pieces and blot out the memory of them from mankind, |
| 27if it weren't for dreading the taunting of their enemies— otherwise, their adversary might misinterpret and say, "Our power is great. It isn't the LORD who made all of this happen."'" | 27if 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.'" |
| 28They are a nation devoid of purpose and without insight. | 28Israel is a nation lacking sense with no understanding at all. |
| 29O, that they were wise to understand this and consider their future! | 29If only they were wise, they would figure it out; they would understand their fate. |
| 30How can one person chase a thousand of them and two put a myriad to flight, unless their Rock delivers them and the LORD gives them up? | 30How 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? |
| 31For their rock isn't like our Rock, as even our enemies admit. | 31But their "rock" is not like our Rock; even our enemies concede. |
| 32Instead, their vine is from the vines of Sodom and the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, their clusters bitter. | 32For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter. |
| 33Their wine is the venom of serpents, a poisonous cobra. | 33Their wine is serpents' venom, the deadly poison of cobras." |
| 34"Is this not kept in reserve, sealed up with me in my treasury? | 34Is it not stored up with Me, sealed up in My vaults? |
| 35To me belong vengeance and recompense. In due time their feet will slip, because their time of calamity is near and the things prepared for them draw near. | 35Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly." |
| 36For the LORD will vindicate his people and bring comfort to his servants, because he will observe that their power has waned, when neither prisoner nor free person remain. | 36The LORD will indeed vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one is left--slave or free. |
| 37"He will say, 'Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge? | 37He will say: "Where are their gods, the 'rock they found refuge in? |
| 38Who ate the fat of their offerings and drank the wine that was their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your hiding place!' | 38Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let it be a shelter for you. |
| 39"Look now! I AM, and there is no other god besides me. I myself cause death and I sustain life; I wound severely and I also heal; from my power no one can deliver. | 39See now that I alone am He; there is no God but Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal. No one can rescue anyone from My hand. |
| 40"I solemnly swear to heaven— I say 'As certainly as I'm alive and living forever, | 40I raise My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, |
| 41I'll whet my shining sword, with my hands in firm grasp of judgment. I'll show vengeance on my adversary and repay those who keep on hating me. | 41when 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. |
| 42I'll make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword will devour flesh, along with the blood of the slain, and I'll take their enemy leaders captive.' | 42I 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." |
| 43"Sing for joy, nations! Sing for joy, people who belong to him! For he'll avenge the blood of his servants, turn on his adversary, and cleanse both his land and his people." | 43Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants. He will take vengeance on His adversaries; He will purify His land and His people. |
| 44So Moses and Nun's son Joshua came and recited all the words of this song while the people were assembled. | 44Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the presence of the people. |
| 45When Moses had finished addressing all of these words to all Israel, | 45After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, |
| 46he told them, "Take to heart my entire testimony against you today. Command your children to observe carefully every word of this Law, | 46he 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. |
| 47because they're not just empty words for you—they are your very life. Through these instructions you will live long in the land that you are about to cross over the Jordan River to possess." | 47For 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." |
| 48Later that day, the LORD told Moses, | 48On that same day the LORD spoke to Moses," |
| 49"Ascend this Abarim mountain range toward Mount Nebo in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and look out over the land of Canaan that I'm about to give to the Israelis as a possession. | 49Go 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. |
| 50You will die on the mountain that you are about to ascend and be taken to be with your ancestors, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was taken to be with his ancestors. | 50Then 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. |
| 51Both of you acted unfaithfully against me among the Israelis at Meribah-kadesh in the desert of Zin, when you failed to uphold my holiness among the Israelis. | 51For 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. |
| 52You'll see the land from a distance, but you won't be able to enter the land that I am about to give to the Israelis." | 52Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there." |
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