1 Luister, o hemele, dat ek kan spreek, en laat die aarde hoor die woorde van my mond.

2 Laat my leer drup soos die reën, my woord vloei soos die dou, soos reëndruppels op die grasspruitjies en soos reënbuie op die plante.

3 Want die Naam van die HERE roep ek uit: Gee grootheid aan onse God!

4 Die Rots -- volkome is sy werk; want al sy weë is strafgerigte; 'n God van trou en sonder onreg; regverdig en reg is Hy.

5 Hulle het verderflik teen Hom gehandel -- die wat sy seuns nie was nie, maar hulle skandvlek -- 'n verkeerde en verdraaide geslag.

6 Durf julle dit die HERE vergelde, o dwase en onwyse volk? Is Hy nie jou Vader wat jou geskape het nie; het Hy jou nie gemaak en jou toeberei nie?

7 Dink aan die dae van die ou tyd, let op die jare, van geslag tot geslag; vra jou vader, dat hy jou dit bekend maak; die ou mense, dat hulle jou dit sê.

8 Toe die Allerhoogste aan die nasies 'n erfdeel gegee het, toe Hy die mensekinders van mekaar geskei het, het Hy die grense van die volke vasgestel volgens die getal van die kinders van Israel.

9 Want die HERE se deel is sy volk, Jakob is sy afgemete erfdeel.

10 Hy het hom gevind in 'n woestynland en in 'n woeste wêreld, vol gehuil van die wildernis; Hy het hom omring, op hom ag gegee, hom bewaak soos sy oogappel.

11 Soos 'n arend sy nes opwek, oor sy kleintjies sweef, sy vlerke uitsprei, hulle opneem, hulle dra op sy vleuels --

12 die HERE alleen het hom gelei, en daar was geen vreemde god by hom nie.

13 Hy het hom laat ry op die hoogtes van die aarde, en hy het die opbrings van die veld geëet; en Hy het hom heuning uit die rots laat suig en olie uit die klipharde rots;

14 dikmelk van beeste en melk van kleinvee, met die vet van lammers en ramme; stiere van Basan en bokke, met die niervet van koring; en druiwebloed het jy gedrink, skuimende wyn.

15 Toe het Jesurun vet geword en agterop geskop -- jy het vet geword, dik geword, spekvet geword -- en hy het God verwerp wat hom gemaak het, en die steenrots van sy heil geminag.

16 Hulle het deur vreemde gode sy ywer gewek; deur gruwels Hom geterg.

17 Hulle het aan die duiwels geoffer, wat nie-God is, gode wat aan hulle nie bekend was nie; nuwes wat kort gelede opgekom het, vir wie julle vaders nie gehuiwer het nie.

18 Die Steenrots wat jou verwek het, het jy veronagsaam; en jy het die God vergeet wat jou voortgebring het.

19 Toe die HERE dit sien, het Hy hulle verwerp, uit ergernis oor sy seuns en dogters.

20 En Hy het gesê: Ek wil my aangesig vir hulle verberg, Ek wil sien wat hulle einde sal wees; want 'n heeltemal verkeerde geslag is hulle, kinders in wie geen trou is nie.

21 Hulle het my ywer gewek deur wat nie-God is, My geterg deur hulle nietige afgode. k sal dan hulle ywer wek deur die wat 'n nie-volk is, deur 'n dwase nasie sal Ek hulle terg.

22 Want 'n vuur is aangesteek in my toorn en het gebrand tot in die doderyk daaronder, en dit het die aarde met sy opbrings verteer en die fondamente van die berge aan die brand gesteek.

23 Ek sal onheile op hulle ophoop; my pyle sal Ek op hulle wegskiet.

24 As hulle uitgeput is van honger en verteer deur koorsgloed en dodelike siekte, sal Ek die tand van wilde diere teen hulle loslaat met die gif van stofkruipers.

25 Buitekant sal die swaard beroof, en in die binnekamers die verskrikking; die jongman sowel as die jongedogter, die suigling saam met die grysaard.

26 Ek sou gesê het: Ek wil hulle wegblaas, hulle gedagtenis onder die mense uitroei --

27 as Ek nie vir die terging van die vyand bedug was nie, dat hulle teëstanders dit sou misverstaan en sê: Ons hand was hoog, en die HERE het dit alles nie gedoen nie.

28 Want 'n nasie van verlore raadsplanne is hulle, en daar is geen verstand in hulle nie.

29 Was hulle wys, hulle sou dit insien, hulle sou op hulle einde let.

30 Hoe kan een dan duisend agtervolg en twee tien duisend op die vlug jaag, was dit nie dat hul steenrots hulle verkoop en die HERE hulle oorgelewer het nie!

31 Want hulle steenrots is nie soos ons Steenrots nie -- ja, ons vyande self is skeidsregters!

32 Want hulle wingerdstok is uit die wingerdstok van Sodom en uit die wingerde van Gomorra; hulle druiwe is giftige druiwe, bitter trosse dra hulle.

33 Hulle wyn is slanggif en wrede addergif.

34 Is dit nie by My opgegaar, in my skatkamers verseël nie?

35 My kom die wraak toe en die vergelding, op die tyd as hulle voet sal wankel; want die dag van hulle ondergang is naby, en wat oor hulle beskik is, kom gou.

36 Want die HERE sal aan sy volk reg verskaf, en Hy sal medelyde hê met sy knegte as Hy sien dat hulle vashouplek weg is en dit met almal sonder uitsondering gedaan is.

37 Dan sal Hy sê: Waar is hulle gode, die steenrots waarin hulle toevlug geneem het,

38 wat die vet van hulle slagoffers geëet het, die wyn van hulle drankoffer gedrink het? Laat hulle opstaan en julle help, dat daar oor julle 'n beskerming kan wees!

39 Aanskou nou dat dit Ek is en dat daar geen god naas My is nie; Ek maak dood en maak lewend, Ek het verbrysel en Ek genees; en daar is niemand wat uit my hand red nie.

40 Want Ek sal my hand na die hemel ophef en sê: So waar as Ek ewig leef --

41 as Ek my glinsterende swaard skerp gemaak het en my hand na die strafgerig gryp, sal Ek wraak oefen op my teëstanders en my haters vergelde.

42 Ek sal my pyle dronk maak van bloed, en my swaard sal vlees eet: van die bloed van hom wat verslaan en gevang is, van die kop van die vyand se aanvoerders.

43 Jubel, o nasies, oor sy volk, want Hy sal die bloed van sy knegte wreek, en Hy sal wraak oefen op sy teëstanders en versoening doen vir sy land en sy volk.

44 En Moses het gekom en al die woorde van hierdie lied voor die ore van die volk gespreek, hy en Hos,a, die seun van Nun.

45 En toe Moses met al hierdie woorde die hele Israel klaar toegespreek het,

46 sê hy vir hulle: Gee ag op al die woorde waarmee ek julle vandag waarsku, dat julle dit jul kinders beveel om al die woorde van hierdie wet sorgvuldig te hou.

47 Want dit is geen vergeefse woord vir julle nie, maar dit is julle lewe; en deur hierdie woord sal julle die dae verleng in die land waarheen julle deur die Jordaan trek om dit in besit te neem.

48 Daarna het die HERE op daardie selfde dag met Moses gespreek en gesê:

49 Klim op hierdie gebergte Ab rim, die berg Nebo, wat in die land Moab is, wat teenoor J,rigo lê, en aanskou die land Kana„n wat Ek aan die kinders van Israel as besitting sal gee;

50 en sterwe op die berg waarheen jy opklim, en word versamel by jou volksgenote, soos jou broer A„ron gesterf het op die berg Hor en versamel is by sy volksgenote,

51 omdat julle onder die kinders van Israel ontrou teen My gehandel het by die twiswater van Kades, in die woestyn Sin, omdat julle My nie geheilig het onder die kinders van Israel nie.

52 Want reg voor sal jy die land sien, maar jy sal daar nie inkom, in die land wat Ek aan die kinders van Israel sal gee nie.

1 Give ear, O heavens, to my voice; let the earth take note of the words of my mouth:

2 My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:

3 For I will give honour to the name of the Lord: let our God be named great.

4 He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he.

5 They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation.

6 Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.

7 Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story.

8 When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel.

9 For the Lord's wealth is his people; Jacob is the land of his heritage.

10 He came to him in the waste land, in the unpeopled waste of sand: putting his arms round him and caring for him, he kept him as the light of his eye.

11 As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers:

12 So the Lord only was his guide, no other god was with him.

13 He put him on the high places of the earth, his food was the increase of the field; honey he gave him out of the rock and oil out of the hard rock;

14 Butter from his cows and milk from his sheep, with fat of lambs and sheep of Bashan, and goats, and the heart of the grain; and for your drink, wine from the blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation.

16 The honour which was his they gave to strange gods; by their disgusting ways he was moved to wrath.

17 They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers.

18 You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth.

19 And the Lord saw with disgust the evil-doing of his sons and daughters.

20 And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith.

21 They have given my honour to that which is not God, moving me to wrath with their false worship: I will give their honour to those who are not a people, moving them to wrath by a foolish nation,

22 For my wrath is a flaming fire, burning to the deep parts of the underworld, burning up the earth with her increase, and firing the deep roots of the mountains.

23 I will send a rain of troubles on them, my arrows will be showered on them.

24 They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.

25 Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man.

26 I said I would send them wandering far away, I would make all memory of them go from the minds of men:

27 But for the fear that their haters, uplifted in their pride, might say, Our hand is strong, the Lord has not done all this.

28 For they are a nation without wisdom; there is no sense in them.

29 If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future!

30 How would it be possible for one to overcome a thousand, and two to send ten thousand in flight, if their rock had not let them go, if the Lord had not given them up?

31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our haters themselves being judges.

32 For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter:

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel poison of snakes.

34 Is not this among my secrets, kept safe in my store-house?

35 Punishment is mine and reward, at the time of the slipping of their feet: for the day of their downfall is near, sudden will be their fate.

36 For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free.

37 And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith?

38 Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation.

39 See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand.

40 For lifting up my hand to heaven I say, By my unending life,

41 If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters.

42 I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters.

43 Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.

44 So Moses said all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea, the son of Nun.

45 And after saying all this to the people,

46 Moses said to them, Let the words which I have said to you today go deep into your hearts, and give orders to your children to do every word of this law.

47 And this is no small thing for you, but it is your life, and through this you may make your days long in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.

48 That same day the Lord said to Moses,

49 Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage:

50 And let death come to you on the mountain where you are going, and be put to rest with your people; as death came to Aaron, your brother, on Mount Hor, where he was put to rest with his people:

51 Because of your sin against me before the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh in the waste land of Zin; because you did not keep my name holy among the children of Israel.

52 So you will see the land before you, but you will not go into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.