¶¹Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

My doctrine shall drop² as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers³ upon the grass:

Because⁴ I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe⁵ ye greatness unto our God.

He is the Rock⁶, his work⁷ is perfect: for all his⁸ ways are judgment: a God⁹ of truth and without¹⁰ iniquity, just and right is he.

They have corrupted themselves,¹¹ their spot¹² is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse¹³ and crooked generation.

Do ye thus requite¹⁴ the LORD, O foolish¹⁵ people and unwise? is not he thy father¹⁶ that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee,¹⁸ and established thee?

¶ Remember¹⁹ the days of old, consider the years of many generations²⁰: ask²¹ thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the most²² High divided²³ to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set²⁴ the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

For the LORD'S²⁵ portion is his people; Jacob is the lot²⁶ of his inheritance.

¶ He found²⁷ him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him²⁸ about, he instructed him, he kept²⁹ him as the apple of his eye.

³⁰As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

So the LORD³¹ alone did lead him, and there was no strange³² god with him.

He made him ride³³ on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey³⁴ out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

Butter³⁵ of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan³⁶, and goats, with the fat³⁷ of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood³⁸ of the grape.

¶ But Jeshurun³⁹ waxed fat, and kicked⁴⁰: thou art waxen fat⁴¹, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he⁴² forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock⁴³ of his salvation.

They provoked⁴⁴ him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations⁴⁵ provoked they him to anger.

They sacrificed⁴⁶ unto devils, not to God⁴⁷; to gods⁴⁸ whom they knew not, to new gods⁴⁹ that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

Of the Rock⁵⁰ that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten⁵¹ God that formed thee.

¶ And when⁵² the LORD saw it, he abhorred them,⁵³ because of the provoking of his sons⁵⁴, and of his daughters.

¶ And he said, I will hide⁵⁵ my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very⁵⁶ froward generation, children⁵⁷ in whom is no faith.

They have moved me⁵⁸ to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities⁵⁹: and I will⁶⁰ move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

For a fire⁶¹ is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn⁶² unto the lowest hell, and shall consume⁶³ the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations⁶⁴ of the mountains.

I will heap mischiefs⁶⁵ upon them; I will spend⁶⁶ mine arrows upon them.

They shall be burnt⁶⁷ with hunger, and devoured with burning heat⁶⁸, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth⁶⁹ of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents⁷⁰ of the dust.

The sword⁷¹ without, and terror within⁷², shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

¶⁷³I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their⁷⁴ adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should⁷⁵ say, Our hand⁷⁶ is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

⁷⁷For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

O that⁷⁸ they were wise, that they understood this, that they would⁷⁹ consider their latter end!

¶ How should one chase⁸⁰ a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them⁸¹, and the LORD had shut them⁸² up?

⁸³For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom⁸⁴, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes⁸⁵ are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

Their wine is the poison⁸⁶ of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

⁸⁷Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

To me⁸⁸ belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot⁸⁹ shall slide in due time: for the day⁹⁰ of their calamity is at hand, and the things⁹¹ that shall come upon them make haste.

For the⁹² LORD shall judge his people, and repent⁹³ himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power⁹⁴ is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

⁹⁵And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

Which did eat the fat⁹⁶ of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them⁹⁷ rise up and help you, and be your protection⁹⁸.

¶ See now that I, even I,⁹⁹ am he, and there is no god¹⁰⁰ with me: I kill¹⁰¹, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither¹⁰² is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

¶¹⁰³For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

If I whet¹⁰⁴ my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will¹⁰⁵ render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate¹⁰⁶ me.

I will make mine¹⁰⁸ arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges¹⁰⁹ upon the enemy.

Rejoice¹¹⁰, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge¹¹¹ the blood of his servants, and will render¹¹² vengeance to his adversaries, and will be¹¹³ merciful unto his land, and to his people.

¶ And Moses came and spake¹¹⁴ all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea¹¹⁵ the son of Nun.

And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

¹¹⁶And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

¹¹⁷For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

Get thee up into this mountain¹¹⁹ Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold¹²¹ the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

¶ And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered¹²² unto thy people; as Aaron¹²⁴ thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

Because ye trespassed¹²⁵ against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh¹²⁶, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye¹²⁷ sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

¹²⁸Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.