| 01 |
Give Ear,
O Heavens, while I will Speak ... let the Earth hear the Testimony
of my Mouth. |
| 02 |
May
my teaching soak in like the Rain ... and my discourse permeate
like the Dew ... |
| |
like a Downpour
on the Grass ... like a Shower upon the Crops. |
| 03 |
For I will
Sing the Name of the LORD! |
| |
Oh,
proclaim the Greatness of Our God! |
| 04 |
The
Rock - how faultless are his Works ... how Right all his Ways! |
| |
A faithful
God without deceit ... how just and upright he is! |
| 05 |
Yet basely
he has been treated by his degenerate children ... a perverse and
crooked race! |
| 06 |
Is
the LORD to be repaid like this by you, O stupid and foolish people?
|
| |
Is
he not your Father who created you? |
| |
Has
he not made you and established you? |
| 07 |
Think
back to the days of old ... reflect on the Years of the Eons
of the Eons. |
| |
Ask
your father and he will inform you! ... ask your elders and they
will tell you! |
| 08 |
When
the Most High apportioned the nations their heritage ... when he
parceled out the descendants of Adam ... he fixed the boundaries
of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God ... |
| 09 |
While
the LORD's own portion was Jacob, his hereditary share was Israel.
|
| 10 |
He
found them a Wilderness ... a wasteland of howling Desert. |
| |
He
shielded them and cared for them ... guarding them like the apple
of his eye. |
| 11 |
As
an Eagle stirs its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood ...
so he spread his Wings to take them up on his talons. |
| 12 |
The
LORD alone was their Leader ... no foreign god was with him. |
| 13 |
He
had them ride triumphant over the heights of the Land and live off
the produce of its fields ... |
| |
giving
them honey to suck from the Rocks and Olive Oil from its hard stony
Ground ... |
| 14 |
butter
from its Cows and milk from its Sheep ... |
| |
with fat of its Lambs and Rams ... |
| |
its Bashan Bulls and its Goats ... |
| |
with the cream of its choicest Wheat ... |
| |
and the foaming Blood of its Grapes you drank. |
| 15 |
Jacob
ate his fill ... Jeshurun grew fat and frisky ... |
| |
you became fat and gross and gorged. |
| |
They
spurned the God who made them ... scorned their saving Rock. |
| 16 |
They
provoked him with strange Gods and angered him with Idols. |
| 17 |
They
offered sacrifice to demons ... |
| |
to "no-gods" to whom they had not known before ... |
| |
to newcomers just arrived ... of whom their fathers had never stood
in awe. |
| 18 |
You were unmindful
of the Rock that bore you ... you forgot the God who gave you birth.
|
| 19 |
When the LORD
saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons
and daughters. |
| 20 |
I will hide my Face from them he said, and see what will become
of them. |
| |
What
a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them. |
| 21 |
Since
they have provoked me with their "no god" ... and angered
me with their vain Idols ... I will provoke them with a "no
people" ... with a foolish Nation I will anger them. |
| 22 |
For
by my Wrath a Fire is kindled that shall rage to the depths of Hell
... consuming the Earth with its yield ... and licking with flames
the Roots of the Mountains. |
| 23 |
I
will heap on them Woe upon Woe ... and exhaust all my arrows against
them: |
| 24 |
Emaciating
Hunger ... consuming Fever ... bitter Pestilence ... and the Teeth
of Beasts I will send among them ... with the venom of Things crawling
in the dust. |
| 25 |
Snatched away
by the Sword in the Street and by sheer terror at home shall be
the youth and maiden alike ... the nursing baby as well as the grizzled
old man. |
| 26 |
I would have
said, I will make an end of them and blot out their Name from men's
memories ... |
| 27 |
but I feared
the insolence of their Enemies ... feared that these Foes might
mistakenly boast and say ... "Our own Hand won the Victory
... the LORD had nothing to do with it." |
| 28 |
For they are
a people void of Reason ... they have no understanding. |
| 29 |
If they had
insight, they would realize what happened ... they would understand
their future and say ... |
| 30 |
How
could one Man rout a Thousand ... or Two Men put a Myriad (10,000)
to flight ... unless it was because their Rock had sold them and
the LORD had delivered them up? |
| 31 |
Indeed their
"Rock" is not like our Rock ... our Enemies are fools. |
| 32 |
They
are a branch that comes from the Vinestock of Sodom ... from the
Vineyards of Gomorrah ... |
| |
Their Grapes
are poisonous ... their Clusters are bitter. |
| 33 |
Their Wine
is the venom of Dragons and the cruel venom of Serpents. |
| 34 |
Is not this
preserved in my Treasury? ... sealed in my Storehouse? |
| 35 |
Against
the Day of vengeance and payback ... against the Time when they
lose their footing? |
| |
The Day of
their Disaster is close at hand ... their Destruction comes Swiftly.
|
| 36 |
Indeed, the
LORD will do Justice for his people ... on his Slaves he shall have
pity. When he sees that their Power failing ... their Slaves and
Freemen alike disappearing ... |
| 37 |
He
will say ... Where are the Gods on whom they relied as their "Rock"? |
| 38 |
Let
those who ate the fat of your sacrifices and drank the Wine of your
libations rise up now and help you! |
| |
let them be
your protection! |
| 39 |
Learn
now that I ... I alone am God ... there is no god besides me. |
| |
It
is I who bring both Death and Life ... It is I who inflict Wounds
and heal them ... |
| |
and from my
Hand there is no rescue! |
| 40 |
I raise up
my hand to the Heavens and Swear ... As surely as I Live forever
... |
| 41 |
I will sharpen my flashing Sword ... and my hand shall take hold
of my quiver. |
| |
I
will repay my Enemies with vengeance ... and I will repay those
who hate me. |
| 42 |
I
will make my arrows Drunk with Blood ... and my Sword shall gorge
itself with Flesh ... |
| |
with the Blood
of the slain and the captured ... Flesh from the Heads of the Enemy
Leaders. |
| 43 |
Exult
with him you Heavens! ... Glorify him all you Angels of God! ...
|
| |
for he avenges
the Blood of his Slaves ... and purges the Land of his People. |
| 44 |
So Moses together
with Joshua, son of Nun, went and recited all the words of this
Song for the people to hear. |
| 45 |
When Moses
had finished speaking all these words to Israel ... |
| 46 |
he said ...
Take to heart all the warning I have now given to you ... and which
you must impress on your children ... that you may carry out carefully
every word of this Law. |
| 47 |
For
this is no trivial matter for you ... rather it means your very
Life ... |
| |
since it is
by this means that you are to enjoy a long life on the land which
you will cross the Jordan to occupy. |