Feb 14 - Deuteronomy 32-34
Deuteronomy
1"Listen, O heavens, to what I am saying. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth2Let my doctrine accumulate like the rain. Let my eloquence form like the dew, like a mist upon the plants, and like water droplets upon the grass3For I will invoke the name of the Lord. Acknowledge the magnificence of our God4The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments. God is faithful and without any iniquity. He is just and upright5They have sinned against him, and in their filth they are not his sons. They are a depraved and perverse generation6How can this be the return you would offer to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is he himself not your Father, who has possessed you, and made you, and created you7Remember the days of antiquity. Consider each generation. Question your father, and he will declare it to you. Question your elders, and they will tell it to you8When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the limits of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel9But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob, the lot of his inheritance10He discovered him in a desert land, in a place of horror and a vast wilderness. He led him around and taught him, and he guarded him like the pupil of his eye11just as an eagle encourages its young to fly, and, flying above them, stretches out its wings, and takes them up, and carries them on its shoulders12The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him13He stood him upon an exalted land, so that he might eat the fruits of the fields, so that he might eat honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest stone14butter from the herd, and milk from the sheep, with fat from the lambs, and with rams and goats from the sons of Bashan, with the kernel of the wheat, and so that he might drink the undiluted blood of the grape15The beloved grew fat, and he kicked. Having grown fat and thick and wide, he abandoned God, his Maker, and he withdrew from God, his Savior16They provoked him with strange gods, and they stirred him to anger by their abominations17They immolated to demons and not to God, to gods whom they did not know, who were new and recent arrivals, whom their fathers did not worship18You have forsaken the God who conceived you, and you have forgotten the Lord who created you19The Lord saw, and he was stirred to anger. For his own sons and daughters provoked him20And he said: ‘I will hide my face from them, and I will consider their very end. For this is a perverse generation, and they are unfaithful sons21They have provoked me with that which was not God, and they have angered me with their emptiness. And so, I will provoke them with that which is not a people, and I will anger them with a foolish nation22A fire has been kindled in my fury, and it will burn even to the deepest Hell, and it will devour the earth with its produce, and it will burn the foundations of the mountains23I will heap evils upon them, and I will expend my arrows among them24They will be consumed by famine, and birds with a very bitter bite will devour them. I will send forth the teeth of wild beasts among them, along with the fury of creatures that scurry across the ground, and of serpents25Outside, the sword will devastate them; and inside, there will be dread, as much for the young man as for the maiden, and as much for the newborn as for the old man26I said: Where are they? I will cause their memory to cease from among men27But because of the wrath of the enemies, I have delayed it. Otherwise, perhaps their enemies would be arrogant and would say: "Our exalted hand, and not the Lord, has done all these things.28They are a nation without counsel and without prudence29I wish that they would be wise and understanding, and would provide for the very end.30How is it that one pursues a thousand, and two chases ten thousand? Is it not because their God has sold them, and because the Lord has enclosed them31For our God is not like their gods. And our enemies are judges32Their vines are of the vines of Sodom, but from the suburbs of Gomorrah. Their grapes are the grapes of gall, and their grape clusters are most bitter33Their wine is the gall of snakes, and it is the incurable venom of asps34‘Have not these things been stored up with me, and sealed up amid my treasures35Vengeance is mine, and I will repay them in due time, so that their foot may slip and fall. The day of perdition is near, and the time rushes to appear.36The Lord will judge his people, and he will take pity on his servants. He will see that their hand has been weakened, and that those who have been enclosed have likewise failed, and that those who have been left behind have been consumed37And he shall say: ‘Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence38They ate the fat of their victims, and they drank the wine of their libations. So let these rise up, and bring relief to you, and protect you in your distress39See that I am alone, and there is no other god beside me. I will kill, and I will cause to live. I will strike, and I will heal. And there is no one who is able to rescue from my hand40I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live in eternity41When I sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand takes hold of judgment, then I will render vengeance to my enemies, and I will repay those who hate me42I will inebriate my arrows with blood, and my sword will devour flesh: from the blood of the slain and from the captive, from the exposed head of the enemies.43You nations, praise his people! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. And he will distribute vengeance to their enemies. And he will be merciful to the land of his people.44Therefore, Moses went and spoke all the words of this canticle to the ears of the people, both he and Joshua, the son of Nun45And he completed all these words, speaking to all of Israel46And he said to them: "Set your hearts upon all the words which I am testifying to you this day. So shall you command your sons, to keep, and to do, and to fulfill all the things that have been written in this law47For these things have not been entrusted to you to no purpose, but so that each one would live by them, and so that, in doing these, you may continue for a long time in the land, which you will enter upon crossing the Jordan in order to possess it.48And the Lord spoke to Moses on the same day, saying49"Ascend this mountain, Abarim, (that is, of crossings) onto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look upon the land of Canaan, which I will deliver to the sons of Israel to obtain it. And you shall die upon the mountain50After climbing it, you will be joined to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, and was placed with his people51For you trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel, at the Waters of Contradiction, in Kadesh, in the desert of Sin. And you did not sanctify me among the sons of Israel52You shall see the land opposite you, which I will give to the sons of Israel, but you shall not enter into it.
1This is the blessing, with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the sons of Israel before his death2And he said: "The Lord went forth from Sinai, and he arose for us from Seir. He appeared from Mount Paran, and thousands of holy ones were with him. The fiery law was in his right hand3He loved the people; all the holy ones are in his hand. And those who approach his feet shall receive from his doctrine4Moses instructed us in the law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob5The king shall have great righteousness, at the gathering of the princes of the people with the tribes of Israel6Let Ruben live, and not die, and may he be small in number.7This is the blessing of Judah. "Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and lead him to his people. His hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his adversaries.8Likewise, to Levi he said: "Your perfection and your doctrine are for your holy man, whom you have proven by temptation, and whom you have judged at the Waters of Contradiction9He has said to his father and to his mother, ‘I do not know you,’ and to his brothers, ‘I will disregard you.’ And they have not known their own sons. Such as these have kept your word and have observed your covenant10your judgments, O Jacob, and your law, O Israel. They shall place incense before your fury and a holocaust upon your altar11O Lord, bless his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and do not let those who hate him rise up.12And to Benjamin he said: "The most beloved of the Lord will live confidently in him. He shall remain all day long, as if in a bridal chamber, and he shall rest amid her arms.13Likewise, to Joseph he said: "His land shall be from the blessing of the Lord, from the fruits of heaven, and from the dew, and from the abyss which lies below14from the fruits of the crops under the sun and the moon15from the heights of the ancient mountains, from the fruits of the everlasting hills16and from the fruits of the earth with all its plenitude. May the blessing of him who appeared in the bush, settle upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of the Nazarite among his brothers17His excellence is like that of a first-born bull. His horns are like the horns of a rhinoceros; he shall brandish these against the Gentiles, even to the ends of the earth. These are the multitudes of Ephraim, and these the thousands of Manasseh.18And to Zebulun he said: "Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your departure, and Issachar, in your tabernacles19They shall summon the peoples to the mountain. There, they shall immolate the victims of justice, who feed on the flood of the sea, as if on milk, and on the hidden treasures of the sands.20And to Gad he said: "Blessed is Gad in his breadth. He has rested like a lion, and he has seized the arm and the top of the head21And he has seen his own pre-eminence, which his teacher has stored up as his portion. He was with the princes of the people, and he accomplished the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel.22Likewise, to Dan he said: "Dan is a young lion. He shall flow plentifully from Bashan.23And to Naphtali he said: "Naphtali shall enjoy abundance, and he shall be full of the blessings of the Lord. He shall possess the sea and the Meridian.24Likewise, to Asher he said: "Let Asher be blessed with sons. Let him be pleasing to his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil25His shoe shall be of iron and of brass. As were the days of your youth, so also shall be your old age26There is no other god like the God of the most righteous one. He who rides upon the heavens is your helper. His magnificence scatters the clouds27His habitation is above, and the everlasting arms are below. He shall cast out the enemy before your face, and he shall say: ‘Be utterly broken!28Israel shall live in confidence and alone, as the eye of Jacob in a land of grain and of wine; and the heavens shall be misty with dew29Blessed are you, O Israel. Who is like you, the people who are saved by the Lord? He is the shield of your assistance and the sword of your glory. Your enemies will refuse to acknowledge you, and so you shall tread upon their necks.
1Therefore, Moses ascended from the plains of Moab onto Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And the Lord revealed to him the entire land of Gilead, as far as Dan2and all of Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and the entire land of Judah, even to the furthest sea3and the southern region, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho, the city of palms, as far as Zoar4And the Lord said to him: "This is the land, about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring. You have seen it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over to it.5And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died in that place, in the land of Moab, by order of the Lord6And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, opposite Peor. And no man knows where his sepulcher is, even to the present day7Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dimmed, nor were his teeth displaced8And the sons of Israel wept for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days. And then the days of their wailing, during which they mourned Moses, were completed9Truly, Joshua, the son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the sons of Israel were obedient to him, and they did as the Lord instructed Moses10And no other prophet rose up in Israel like Moses, one whom the Lord knew face to face11one with all the signs and wonders, which he sent through him, to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh, and all his servants, and his entire land12nor one with such a powerful hand and such great miracles as Moses did in the sight of all Israel