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Deuteronomy 32:31
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But their “rock” is not like our Rock,as even our enemies concede.
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
For the fact of the matter is, their rock is not like our Rock, and our enemies recognize this.
For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.
The rock of these people is not like our Rock; our enemies agree to that.
For our enemies' rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.
"For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.
"Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock; Even our enemies themselves judge this.
For their god is not as our God, euen our enemies being iudges.
Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,Even our enemies themselves judge this.
Even our enemies know that only our God is a Mighty Rock.
For our enemies have no rock like our Rock — even they can see that!
For their rock is not as our Rock: Let our enemies themselves be judges.
For their strength is not as our strength, even our enemies themselves being judges.
Their enemies know that their own gods are weak, not mighty like Israel's God.
For their rock is not our Rock, even our enemies being judges.
For oure rocke is not as their rocke, of this are oure enemies iudges themselues.
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rock is not like our Rock, even our haters themselves being judges.
For their god is not as our God: our enemies also them selues are iudges.
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rocke is not as our Rocke, euen our enemies themselues being iudges.
For their gods are not as our God, but our enemies are void of understanding.
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
For oure God is not as the goddis of hem, and oure enemyes ben iugis.
For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] judges!)
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rock [is] not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves [being] judges:
For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.
But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize.
For their rock is not like our Rock. Even those who hate us judge this.
Indeed their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies are fools.
For, not like our Rock, is their rock, Our enemies themselves, being judges;
For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are judges.
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
"Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Exodus 14:25, Numbers 23:8, Numbers 23:23, 1 Samuel 2:2, 1 Samuel 4:8, Ezra 1:3, Ezra 6:9-12, Ezra 7:20, Ezra 7:21, Jeremiah 40:3, Daniel 2:47, Daniel 3:29, Daniel 6:26, Daniel 6:27
Reciprocal: Exodus 8:10 - there is none Deuteronomy 32:4 - the Rock 2 Samuel 22:32 - For who 2 Samuel 23:3 - the Rock 2 Kings 17:15 - vanity 2 Kings 19:37 - Nisroch Ezra 5:8 - the great God Psalms 18:31 - General Psalms 31:2 - my strong rock Psalms 62:2 - He only Psalms 77:13 - who Psalms 78:35 - God was Psalms 89:8 - like Psalms 91:2 - I will Psalms 144:1 - my strength Proverbs 18:11 - General Song of Solomon 5:10 - beloved Isaiah 30:29 - mighty One Isaiah 31:3 - the Egyptians Isaiah 44:8 - no God Jeremiah 10:6 - there Habakkuk 1:12 - mighty God Luke 6:48 - rock
Cross-References
The next morning at dawn, the angels were trying to make Lot hurry. They said, "This city will be punished, so take your wife and your two daughters who are still with you and leave this place. Then you will not be destroyed with the city."
Lot was entering the town as the sun came up,
When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he touched Jacob's leg and put it out of joint.
Gideon left the city of Succoth and went to the city of Penuel. He asked the men of Penuel for food, just as he had asked the men of Succoth. But the men of Penuel gave Gideon the same answer that the men of Succoth had given.
I know I am guilty of doing wrong. I cannot forget my pain.
"But, for my followers, goodness will shine on you like the rising sun. And it will bring healing power like the sun's rays. You will be free and happy, like calves freed from their stalls.
But I must not be too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me. So a painful problem was given to me—an angel from Satan, sent to make me suffer, so that I would not think that I am better than anyone else.
But the Lord said, "My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power." So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ's power can stay in me.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For their rock [is] not as our rock,.... That is, the gods of the Heathens, the rock in which they trusted, are not like the God of Israel, the rock of salvation, in which all true believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, place their confidence; and indeed let that be what it will, that is short of Christ the rock, men lay the stress of their salvation on, it is no rock, but sand, and will stand them in no stead; see Matthew 7:24;
even our enemies themselves [being] judges; as has been confessed of the God of Israel by the Heathens; see Exodus 14:25; and was by Titus with respect to the destruction of Jerusalem;
Exodus 14:25- :; and by the Roman emperors when conquered by the Christians, who asked pardon of the God of the Christians, and owned that the God of Constantine was the true God;
Exodus 14:25- :.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Song of Moses
If Deuteronomy 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deuteronomy 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely,
(1) Deuteronomy 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel;
(2) Deuteronomy 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God;
(3) Deuteronomy 32:34-42, Godâs compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.
The Song differs signally in diction and idiom from the preceding chapters; just as a lyrical passage is conceived in modes of thought wholly unlike those which belong to narrative or exhortation, and is uttered in different phraseology.
There are, however, in the Song numerous coincidences both in thoughts and words with other parts of the Pentateuch, and especially with Deuteronomy; while the resemblances between it and Psalms 90:0: âA Prayer of Moses,â have been rightly regarded as important.
The Song has reference to a state of things which did not ensue until long after the days of Moses. In this it resembles other parts of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch which no less distinctly contemplate an apostasy (e. g. Deuteronomy 28:15; Leviticus 26:14), and describe it in general terms. If once we admit the possibility that Moses might foresee the future apostasy of Israel, it is scarcely possible to conceive how such foresight could be turned to better account by him than by the writing of this Song. Exhibiting as it does Godâs preventing mercies, His peopleâs faithlessness and ingratitude, Godâs consequent judgments, and the final and complete triumph of the divine counsels of grace, it forms the summary of all later Old Testament prophecies, and gives as it were the framework upon which they are laid out. Here as elsewhere the Pentateuch presents itself as the foundation of the religious life of Israel in after times. The currency of the Song would be a standing protest against apostasy; a protest which might well check waverers, and warn the faithful that the revolt of others was neither unforeseen nor unprovided for by Him in whom they trusted.
That this Ode must on every ground take the very first rank in Hebrew poetry is universally allowed.
Deuteronomy 32:1-3
Introduction. Heaven and earth are here invoked, as elsewhere (see the marginal references), in order to impress on the hearers the importance of what is to follow.
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his work is perfect - Rather, the Rock, perfect is his work. This epithet, repeated no less than five times in the Song Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18, Deuteronomy 32:30-31, represents those attributes of God which Moses is seeking to enforce, immutability and impregnable strength. Compare the expression âthe stone of Israelâ in Genesis 49:24; and see 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalms 18:2; Matthew 16:18; John 1:42. Zur, the original of âRock,â enters frequently into the composition of proper names of the Mosaic time, e. g., Numbers 1:5-6, Numbers 1:10; Numbers 2:12; Numbers 3:35, etc. Our translators have elsewhere rendered it according to the sense âeverlasting strengthâ Isaiah 26:4, âthe Mighty Oneâ Isaiah 30:29; in this chapter they have rightly adhered to the letter throughout.
Deuteronomy 32:5
Render: âItâ (i. e. âthe perverse and crooked generationâ) âhath corrupted itself before Him (compare Isaiah 1:4); they are not His children, but their blemish:â i. e., the generation of evil-doers cannot be styled Godâs children, but rather the shame and disgrace of Godâs children. The other side of the picture is thus brought forward with a brevity and abruptness which strikingly enforces the contrast.
Deuteronomy 32:6
Hath bought thee - Rather perhaps, âhath acquired thee for His own,â or âpossessed thee:â compare the expression âa peculiar people,â margin âa purchased people,â in 1 Peter 2:9.
Deuteronomy 32:8
That is, while nations were being constituted under Godâs providence, and the bounds of their habitation determined under His government (compare Acts 17:26), He had even then in view the interests of His elect, and reserved a fitting inheritance âaccording to the number of the children of Israel;â i. e., proportionate to the wants of their population. Some texts of the Greek version have âaccording to the number of the Angels of God;â following apparently not a different reading, but the Jewish notion that the nations of the earth are seventy in number (compare Genesis 10:1 note), and that each has its own guardian Angel (compare Ecclus. 17:17). This was possibly suggested by an apprehension that the literal rendering might prove invidious to the many Gentiles who would read the Greek version.
Deuteronomy 32:9-14
These verses set forth in figurative language the helpless and hopeless state of the nation when God took pity on it, and the love and care which He bestowed on it.
Deuteronomy 32:10
In the waste howling wilderness - literally, âin a waste, the howling of a wilderness,â i. e., a wilderness in which wild beasts howl. The word for âwasteâ is that used in Genesis 1:2, and there rendered âwithout form.â
Deuteronomy 32:11
Compare Exodus 19:4. The âso,â which the King James Version supplies in the next verse, should he inserted before âspreadeth,â and omitted from Deuteronomy 32:12. The sense is, âso He spread out His wings, took them up,â etc.
Deuteronomy 32:12
With him - i. e., with God. The Lord alone delivered Israel; Israel therefore ought to have served none other but Him.
Deuteronomy 32:13
i. e., God gave Israel possession of those commanding positions which carry with them dominion over the whole land (compare Deuteronomy 33:29), and enabled him to draw the richest provision out of spots naturally unproductive.
Deuteronomy 32:14
Breed of Bashan - Bashan was famous for its cattle. Compare Psalms 22:12; Ezekiel 39:18.
Fat of kidneys of wheat - i. e., the finest and most nutritious wheat. The fat of the kidneys was regarded as being the finest and tenderest, and was therefore specified as a part of the sacrificial animals which was to be offered to the Lord: compare Exodus 29:13, etc.
The pure blood of the qrape - Render, the blood of the grape, even wine. The Hebrew word seems (compare Isaiah 27:2) a poetical term for wine.
Deuteronomy 32:15
Jesbarun - This word, found again only in Deuteronomy 33:5, Deuteronomy 33:26, and Isaiah 44:2, is not a diminutive but an appellative (containing an allusion to the root, âto be righteousâ); and describes not the character which belonged to Israel in fact, but that to which Israel was called. Compare Numbers 23:21. The prefixing of this epithet to the description of Israelâs apostasy contained in the words next following is full of keen reproof.
Deuteronomy 32:16
They provoked him to jealousy - The language is borrowed from the matrimonial relationship, as in Deuteronomy 31:16.
Deuteronomy 32:17
Devils - Render, destroyers. The application of the word to the false gods points to the trait so deeply graven in all pagan worship, that of regarding the deities as malignant, and needing to be propitiated by human sufferings.
Not to God - Rather, ânot God,â i. e., which were not God; see the margin and Deuteronomy 32:21. Compare Deuteronomy 13:7; Deuteronomy 29:25.
Deuteronomy 32:19
The anger of God at the apostasy of His people is stated in general terms in this verse; and the results of it are described, in words as of God Himself, in the next and following verses. These results consisted negatively in the withdrawal of Godâs favor Deuteronomy 32:20, and positively in the infliction of a righteous retribution.
Daughters - The women had their full share in the sins of the people. Compare Isaiah 3:16 ff; Isaiah 32:9 ff; Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:15 ff.
Deuteronomy 32:20
I will see what their end shall be - Compare the similar expression in Genesis 37:20.
Deuteronomy 32:21
God would mete out to them the same measure as they had done to Him. Through chosen by the one God to be His own, they had preferred idols, which were no gods. So therefore would He prefer to His people that which was no people. As they had angered Him with their vanities, so would He provoke them by adopting in their stead those whom they counted as nothing. The terms, ânot a people,â and âa foolish nation,â mean such a people as, not being Godâs, would not be accounted a people at all (compare Ephesians 2:12; 1 Peter 2:10), and such a nation as is destitute of that which alone can make a really âwise and understanding peopleâ Deuteronomy 4:6, namely, the knowledge of the revealed word and will of God (compare 1 Corinthians 1:18-28).
Deuteronomy 32:24
Burning heat - i. e., the fear of a pestilential disease. On the âfour sore judgments,â famine, plague, noisome beasts, the sword, compare Leviticus 26:22; Jeremiah 15:2; Ezekiel 5:17; Ezekiel 14:21.
Deuteronomy 32:26, Deuteronomy 32:27
Rather, I would utterly disperse them, etc., were it not that I apprehended the provocation of the enemy, i. e., that I should be provoked to wrath when the enemy ascribed the overthrow of Israel to his own prowess and not to my judgments. Compare Deuteronomy 9:28-29; Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 20:14, Ezekiel 20:22.
Behave themselves strangely - Rather, misunderstand it, i. e., mistake the cause of Israelâs ruin.
Deuteronomy 32:30
The defeat of Israel would be due to the fact that God, their strength, had abandoned them because of their apostasy.
Deuteronomy 32:31
Our enemies - i. e., the enemies of Moses and the faithful Israelites; the pagan, more especially those with whom Israel was brought into collision, whom Israel was commissioned to âchase,â but to whom, as a punishment for faithlessness, Israel was âsold,â Deuteronomy 32:30. Moses leaves the decision, whether âtheir rockâ (i. e. the false gods of the pagan to which the apostate Israelites had fallen away) or âour Rockâ is superior, to be determined by the unbelievers themselves. For example, see Exodus 14:25; Numbers 23:0; Numbers 24:0; Joshua 2:9 ff; 1 Samuel 4:8; 1 Samuel 5:7 ff; 1 Kings 20:28. That the pagan should thus be constrained to bear witness to the supremacy of Israelâs God heightened the folly of Israelâs apostasy.
Deuteronomy 32:32
Their vine - i. e., the nature and character of Israel: compare for similar expressions Psalms 80:8, Psalms 80:14; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1.
Sodom ... Gomorrah - Here, as elsewhere, and often in the prophets, emblems of utter depravity: compare Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 23:14,
Gall - Compare Deuteronomy 29:18 note.
Deuteronomy 32:35
Rather: âVengeance is mine and recompence, at the time when their foot slideth.
Deuteronomy 32:36
Repent himself for - Rather, have compassion upon. The verse declares that Godâs judgment of His people would issue at once in the punishment of the wicked, and in the comfort of the righteous.
None shut up, or left - A proverbial phrase (compare 1 Kings 14:10) meaning perhaps âmarried and single,â or âguarded and forsaken,â but signifying generally âall men of all sorts.â
Deuteronomy 32:40-42
Render: For I lift up my hand to heaven and say, As I live forever, if I whet, etc. On Deuteronomy 32:40, in which God is described as swearing by Himself, compare Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 22:5; Hebrews 6:17. The lifting up of the hand was a gesture used in making oath (compare Genesis 14:22; Revelation 10:5).
Deuteronomy 32:42
From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy - Render, (drunk with blood) from the head (i. e. the chief) of the princes of the enemy.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Deuteronomy 32:31. For their rock — The gods and pretended protectors of the Romans.
Is not as our Rock — Have neither power nor influence like our God.
Our enemies themselves being judges. — For they often acknowledged the irresistible power of that God who fought for Israel. See Exodus 14:25; Numbers 23:8-12; Numbers 23:19-21; 1 Samuel 4:8.
There is a passage in Virgil, Eclog. iv., ver. 58, very similar to this saying of Moses: -
Pan Deus Arcadia mecum si judice certet,
Pan etiam Arcadia dicat se judice victum.
"Should the god Pan contend with me," (in singing
the praises of the future hero, the deliverer,
prophesied of in the Sibylline books,) "were even
Arcadia judge, Pan would acknowledge himself to be
vanquished, Arcadia herself being judge."
