1 Give ear {ha'azinu: solemn call}, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words {imrei: deliberate utterances} of my mouth.
2 May my teaching {likchi: instruction and wisdom} drop down like the rain, may my utterance {imrati: spoken word} distill like the dew, like showers upon the grass, and like abundant rain on the plants.
3 For I will call the name of the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Revealer} and ascribe greatness {godel: Majestic Power} to our God.
4 The Rock is flawless; His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice {mishpat: righteous judgment}, and God {El, Steadfast One} is faithful without any injustice; righteous and upright is He.
5 They have acted corruptly toward Him {YHWH, Righteous Judge}; they are not His children because their blemish {mumam: marked defect} is in them—a perverse and twisted generation.
6 Is this how you repay the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Maker}, you foolish {naval: lacking moral sense} and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? He made you and established you.
7 Remember {zekhor: recall attentively} the days of old; consider the years of all generations {dor-vador: successive ages}. Ask your father, and he will declare it to you; your elders will say to you.
8 When the Most High {Elyon, Supreme Divider} gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man {adam: all humanity}, He established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 For the portion of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Keeper} is His people, Jacob is the allotment {chevel: measured allotment} of His inheritance.
10 He {YHWH, Faithful Guardian} found him in a desert land, in a formless, howling waste; He encircled him, instructed him, and guarded him as the pupil {ishon: central focus} of His eye.
11 Like an eagle {nesher: great bird of prey} that rouses its nest, hovers over its young, spreads its wings to take them, and bears them on its pinions {evrato: sturdy flight feathers}.
12 The LORD {YHWH, Exclusive Guide} alone led him, and there was no foreign god {el: lesser divine being} with him.
13 He {YHWH, Provider of Elevation} made him ride on the high places {bamot: places of blessing} of the land, and he ate the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag.
14 Curds of cattle and milk of the flock, with the fat {khelev: choice suet} of lambs and rams of Bashan and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat; and the blood of the grape you drank—foaming wine {chamer: rich fermented drink}.
15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— you grew fat, you became thick, you were covered with sleekness; then he abandoned God {Eloah, Faithful Maker} who made him, and despised the Rock {tsur: steadfast protector} of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him {YHWH, Zealous Protector} to jealousy with strangers {zarim: foreign gods} and provoked Him to anger with abominations.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God {eloah, True Deity}, to gods {elohim, False Idols} whom they had not known—new ones from nearby, whom your fathers did not fear.
18 The Rock {tsur: steadfast foundation} who fathered you, you neglected, and you forgot God {El: Creator} who gave you birth.
19 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} saw and rejected {vayinna’ats: declared unworthy} them because of the anger of His sons and His daughters.
20 And He {Elohim, Righteous Judge} said, “I will hide My face from them, and I will see what their end will be: for they are a generation of distortions {tahpukhot: perverse ways}, children in whom there is no faithfulness.”
21 They have provoked Me {YHWH, Jealous Judge} to jealousy with that which is not God; they have angered Me with their vanities {hevel: empty idols}. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people, and I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire was kindled {kadcha: intense blaze} in my {YHWH: divine wrath} nostrils and burns down to the lowest depths of Sheol. It devours the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
23 I {YHWH, Avenging Judge} will heap calamities {ra‘ot: destructive evils} upon them, I will consume My arrows against them.
24 They will be wasted by famine{ra’av: severe hunger}, devoured by burning plague, and by bitter destruction; and I{YHWH, Judgment Executor} will send the tooth of beasts among them, with the venom of serpents of the dust.
25 From outside the sword will bereave {teshakel: cause to lose children}, and from inner chambers, terror {eimah: overwhelming fear}. Both the young man and the virgin will perish—infant together with the gray-haired man.
26 I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} said, “I would scatter them and erase their memory {zikram: ongoing remembrance} from mankind.”
27 Were it not that I dreaded the enemy’s provocation, lest their adversaries {tsareimo: oppressive foes} should misconstrue, lest they say, “Our hand is exalted, and it was not the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} who did all this.”
28 For they are a nation perishing for lack of counsel {etsot: lacking strategic planning}, and there is no understanding {tevunah: deep insight} in them.
29 If only they were wise {chakmu: possessing true insight}, if they would act wisely regarding this, they would understand their end {le’acharitam: ultimate destiny}.
30 How could one pursue a thousand, and two cause ten thousand to flee, unless their Rock {tzur: unchanging defender} had sold them, and the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} had delivered them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock {tsur: reliable protector}, and even our enemies serve as judges {pelilim: declare verdict}.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are clusters of poison {rosh: noxious plant}, and their clusters are bitter {merorot: intense bitterness} to them.
33 Their wine is the venom {chamat: burning poison} of serpents and the cruel poison {rosh: bitter gall} of cobras.
34 Is it not hidden with Me {YHWH, Judge and Avenger}, sealed in My treasuries {otzrotai: divine storehouses}?
35 Vengeance {nakam: just retribution} and recompense belong to Me {YHWH, Righteous Judge}; at the appointed time their foot will slip, for the day of their calamity is near and what is prepared for them hastens to come.
36 For the LORD {YHWH, Just Judge} will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, for He will see that their hand {yad: sustaining power} is gone, and there is none remaining—bond or free.
37 And He {YHWH, Righteous Judge} will say, “Where are their gods, the rock {tsur: unwavering support} in whom they took refuge?”
38 Those who eat the fat {chelev: the choicest portion} of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their drink offerings—let them arise and help you! Let there be protection {sitrah: protective covering} upon you!
39 See now that I {Elohim, Sovereign Judge}, I am He, and there is no god with Me; I put to death and I make alive, I have wounded and I will heal, and there is none who can deliver from My hand {yad: ruling power}.
40 For I {YHWH, Faithful Oath-Keeper} lift my hand to the heavens and declare, “I live {ḥai: the Living One} forever.”
41 If I make my sword flash like lightning, and my hand {yadi: power and authority} takes hold of judgment, I will return vengeance {naqam: retributive justice} upon my adversaries, and I will repay those who hate me.
42 I {YHWH, Avenging Judge} will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh—from the blood of the slain and of the captivity, from the head of the long-haired {parot: unshorn warriors} of the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O nations, with His people, for He {YHWH, Righteous Avenger} will avenge the blood {dam: life-force} of His servants; and He will bring vengeance upon His adversaries and will atone for His land and His people.
44 Then Moses {Mosheh: Covenant Mediator} came and spoke all the words of this song {hashirah: poetic testimony} in the hearing of the people—he and Hoshea son of Nun.
45 And Moses {Mosheh: Covenant Mediator} finished speaking all these words {devarim: legal pronouncements} to all Israel.
46 And he said to them, “Set your heart {levav: inner will and mind} on all the words that I am testifying among you today, which you shall command your children to keep and to do all the words of this Torah {torah: divine instruction}.”
47 For it is not an empty word for you—indeed, it is your life {chayyekhem: source of all vitality}. And by this word you will prolong days {yamim: extend your allotted time} upon the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
48 And the LORD {YHWH, Law-Giver} spoke to Moses in the very midst of this day {beʿetsem: at the exact time}, saying—
49 Go up to the mountain of the Abarim, this Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I{YHWH, Promise Giver} am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession{achuzzah: perpetual inheritance}.
50 And you will die on the mountain {har: elevated place} where you are ascending, and you will be gathered {asaf: joined forebears} to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.