Study Desk

So Moses spake in the hearing of all the convocation of Israel the words of this Song, until they were ended: -

Give ear O ye heavens and I will speak, And let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth:

Let my teaching drop as the rain, Let my speech distil as the dew, - As copious rains on tender grass, As myriad drops on seeding plants.

When, the name of Yahweh, I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God: -

A Rock! faultless his work, For, all his ways, are just, A GOD of faithfulness and without perversity, Right and fair, is he!

They have broken faith with him to be no sons of his - their fault, - A generation twisted and crooked.

Is it Yahweh, ye thus requite, O impious people and unwise? Is not, he, thy father who begat thee? He, that made thee and established thee?

Remember the days of age-past times, Remark the years of many generations, - Ask thy father and he will tell thee, Thine elders and they will say to thee: -

When the Most High gave inheritances unto the nations, When he spread abroad the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples, According to the number of the sons of Israel.

For, Yahweh's portion is his people, - Jacob, his inherited possession.

He met him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness, - He encompassed him watched over him, Shielded him as the pupil of his own eye.

As, an eagle, stirreth up his nest, Over his young ones, fluttereth, Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh one, Beareth it up on his pinions,

Yahweh alone did lead him, - And there was with him no GOD of a stranger.

He made him ride on the high places of the land, Caused him to eat the increase of the fields, - And gave him to suck honey out of the cliff, And oil out of the rock of flint:

Curds of kine and milk of sheep, - With fat of well-fed lambs, Yea rams bred in Bashan, and he-goats, With the white of the kernels of wheat, - And, the blood of the grape, thou didst drink as it foamed.

Then Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou wast fat, Thou wast thick, Thou wast gorged, So he forsook the GOD who made him, And treated as foolish his Rock of salvation.

They moved him to jealousy with foreign gods , - With abominations, angered they him:

They sacrificed to mischievous demons to a No-GOD, Gods whom they knew not, - New ones lately come in, Your fathers never shuddered at them!

Of the Rock who had begotten thee, thou wast unmindful, - And didst forget GOD who had given thee birth.

When Yahweh, he derided, - Because his sons and his daughters gave pro-vocation.

So he said: - I will hide any face from them, I will see what will be their hereafter, - For a generation given to intrigue, they are, Sons, whom there is no trusting;

They have moved me to jealousy with a No-GOD, They have angered me with their vanities: I, therefore, will move them to jealousy with a No-people, With an impious nation, will I anger them.

For, a fire, is kindled in mine anger, And shall burn as far as hades beneath, - And consume the earth with her produce, And set ablaze the foundations of the mountains:

I will heap on them, calamities, - Mine arrows, will I spend upon them:

The meltings of hunger, The devourings of fever, And the dangerous pestilence, - And, the tooth of beasts, will I send among them, With the poison of crawlers of the dust:

Without, shall the sword bereave, In the inmost recesses, terror, - To both young man and virgin, Suckling, with man of grey hairs.

I said, I would puff them away, I would destroy from mortals, their memory;

Were it not that the taunt of the foe, I feared, Lest their adversaries should mistake, - Lest they should say - Our own hand, is exalted, It is not Yahweh, therefore who hath wrought all this!

For a nation of vanished sagacity, they are, - And there is in them no understanding.

If they had been wise, they would have understood this, - They would have given heed to their here-after!

Oh! how would one, have chased, a thousand! And, two, put, ten thousand to flight, - Were it not that their Rock had sold them, And, Yahweh, had abandoned them;

For, not like our Rock, is their rock, Our enemies themselves, being judges;

For of the vine of Sodom, is their vine, And of the vineyards of Gomorrah, - Their grapes, are grapes of gall, Clusters of bitter things, are theirs:

The poison of large serpents, is their wine, - Yea the fierce venom of asps.

Is not, that, stored up with me, - Sealed up amongst my treasures;

Unto the days of vengeance and requital: Unto the time their foot shall totter? For, near, is the day of their fate, And their destiny speedeth on.

For Yahweh will vindicate his people, And upon his servants, will have compassion, - When he seeth that strength is exhausted, And there is no one shut up or at large,

Then will he say, Where are their gods, The rock in whom they have trusted;

Who used to eat the fat of their sacrifices, To drink the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be over you for a coveting!

See, now, that, I, I, am, he that is, And there are no gods with me, - I, kill - and make alive, I wound and, I, heal, And there is none who, from my hand, can deliver,

For I lift up unto the heavens my hand, - And say, Living am, I, unto times age-abiding:

If I whet my flashing sword, And my hand take bold on justice, I will return vengeance unto mine adversaries, And them who hate me, will I requite:

I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And, my sword, shall devour flesh, - With the blood of the slain and the captive, With the flesh of the chief leader of the foe.

Shout for joy O ye nations with his people, For the blood of his servants, he avengeth, - And, vengeance, he returneth unto his adversaries, And is propitious unto the soil of his people.

So Moses came in and spake all the words of this Song in the hearing of the people, - he and Hoshea son of Nun.

And, when Moses made an end of speaking all these words unto all Israel,

he said unto them - Apply your hearts unto all the words which I am witnessing against you, to-day, - how that ye must command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law;

for it is not, too small a thing, for you, for, it, is your life, - and, hereby, shall ye prolong your days upon the soil whereunto ye are, passing over the Jordan to possess it.