Two historical poems
  think of the generations long ago;
  ask your father to recount it
  and your elders to tell you the tale.


   8   When the Most High parcelled out the nations,
  when he dispersed all mankind,
  he laid down the boundaries of every people
  according to the number of the sons of God; ^note
   9   but the Lord's share was his own people,
  Jacob was his allotted portion.
   10   He found him in a desert land,
  in a waste and howling void.
  He protected and trained him,
  he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
   11   as an eagle watches over its nest,
  hovers above its young,
  spreads its pinions and takes them up,
  and carries them upon its wings.
   12   The Lord alone led him,
  no alien god at his side.
   13   He made him ride on the heights of the earth
  and fed him on the harvest of the fields;
  he satisfied him with honey from the crags
  and oil from the flinty rock,
   14   curds from the cattle, milk from the ewes,
  the fat of lambs' kidneys, ^note
  of rams, the breed of Bashan, and of goats,
  with the finest flour of wheat;
  and he ^note drank wine from the blood of the grape.
   15   Jacob ate and was well fed, ^note
  Jeshurun grew fat and unruly, ^note
  he ^note grew fat, he ^note grew bloated and sleek.
  He forsook God who made him
  and dishonoured the Rock of his salvation.
   16   They roused his jealousy with foreign gods
  and provoked him with abominable practices.
   17   They sacrificed to foreign demons that are no gods,
  gods who were strangers to them;
  they took up with new gods from their neighbours,
  gods whom your fathers did not acknowledge.
   18   You forsook the creator ^note who begot you

Two historical poems
  and cared nothing for God who brought you to birth.
   19   The Lord saw and spurned them;
  his own sons and daughters provoked him.
   20   ‘I will hide my face from them,’ he said;
  ‘let me see what their end will be,
  for they are a mutinous generation,
  sons who are not to be trusted.
   21   They roused my jealousy with a god of no account,
  with their false gods they provoked me;
  so I will rouse their jealousy with a people of no account,
  with a brutish nation I will provoke them.
   22   For fire is kindled by my anger,
  it burns to the depths of Sheol;
  it devours earth and its harvest
  and sets fire to the very roots of the mountains.
   23   I will heap on them one disaster after another,
  I will use up all my arrows on them:
   24   pangs of hunger, ravages of plague,
  and bitter pestilence.
  I will harry them with the fangs of wild beasts
  and the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
   25   The sword will make orphans in the streets
  and widows in their own homes;
  it will take toll of young man and maid,
  of babes in arms and old men.
   26   I had resolved to strike them down
  and to destroy all memory of them,
   27   but I feared that I should be provoked by their foes,
  that their enemies would take the credit
  and say, “It was not the Lord,
  it was we who raised the hand that did this.”’


   28   They are a nation that lacks good counsel,
  devoid of understanding.
   29   If only they had the wisdom to understand this
  and give thought to their end!
   30   How could one man pursue a thousand of them,
  how could two put ten thousand to flight,
  if their Rock had not sold them to their enemies,
  if the Lord had not handed them over?
   31   For the enemy have no Rock like ours,
  in themselves they are mere fools.
   32   Their vines are vines of Sodom,

Two historical poems
  grown on the terraces of Gomorrah;
  their grapes are poisonous,
  the clusters bitter to the taste.
   33   Their wine is the venom of serpents,
  the cruel poison of asps;
   34   all this I have in reserve,
  sealed up in my storehouses
   35   till the day of ^note punishment and vengeance,
  till the moment when they slip and fall;
  for the day of their downfall is near,
  their doom is fast approaching.
   36   The Lord will give his people justice
  and have compassion on his servants;
  for he will see that their strength is gone:
  alone, or defended by his clan, no one is left.


   37   He will say, ‘Where are your gods,
  the rock in which you sought shelter,
   38   the gods who ate the fat of your sacrifices
  and drank the wine of your drink-offerings?
  Let them rise to help you!
  Let them give you shelter!
   39   See now that I, I am He,
  and there is no god beside me:
  I put to death and I keep alive,
  I wound and I heal;
  there is no rescue from my grasp.
   40   I lift my hand to heaven
  and swear: As I live for ever,
   41   when I have whetted my flashing sword,
  when I have set my hand to judgement,
  then I will punish my adversaries
  and take vengeance on my enemies.
   42   I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
  my sword shall devour flesh,
  blood of slain and captives,
  the heads of the enemy princes.’
   43   Rejoice with him, you heavens,
  bow down, all you gods, before him; ^note
  for he will avenge the blood of his sons ^note
  and take vengeance on his adversaries;

Two historical poems
  he will punish those who hate him
  and make expiation for his people's land. ^note

44   This is the song that Moses came and recited in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua ^note son of Nun.

45    46   Moses finished speaking to all Israel, and then he said, ‘Take to heart all these warnings which I solemnly give you this day: command your children to be careful to observe all the words of this law. 47   For you they are no empty words; they are your very life, and by them you shall live long in the land which you are to occupy after crossing the Jordan.’

48    49   That same day the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Go up this mount Abarim, Mount Nebo in Moab, to the east of Jericho, and look out over the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites for their possession. 50   On this mountain you shall die and be gathered to your father's kin, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his father's kin. 51   This is because both of you were unfaithful to me at the waters of Meribah-by-Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, when you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. 52   You shall see the land from a distance but you may not enter the land I am giving to the Israelites.’

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