Deuteronomy 32:15-44
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior.They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols.They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God— gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear.You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.The Lord saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters.“ I will hide my face from them,” he said,“ and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.“ I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them.I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. The young men and young women will perish, the infants and those with gray hair.I said I would scatter them and erase their name from human memory,but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say,‘ Our hand has triumphed; the Lord has not done all this.’”They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them.If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.“ Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults?It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”The Lord will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.He will say:“ Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in,the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter!“ See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear: As surely as I live forever,when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in 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.”Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. (niv)
