Study Desk

"^(C1)Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!

-"^(C1)May my teaching drip as the rain, My speech trickle as the dew, ^(C2)As droplets on the fresh grass, And as the showers on the vegetation.

-"^(C1)For I proclaim the name of the LORD; ^(C2)Ascribe greatness to our God!

-"^(C1)The Rock! His work is perfect, ^(C2)For all His ways are ^(F1)just; ^(C3)A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and just is He.

-"^(F1)(C1)They have acted corruptly against Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; ^(C2)But are a perverse and crooked generation.

-"Is this what you ^(C1)do to the LORD, ^(C2)You foolish and unwise people? ^(C3)Is He not your Father who has purchased you? ^(C4)He has made you and established you.

-"Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. ^(C1)Ask your father and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.

-"^(C1)When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of ^(F1)mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples ^(C2)According to the number of the ^(F2)sons of Israel.

-"^(C1)For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

-"^(C1)He found him in a desert land, And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as ^(C2)the ^(F1)apple of His eye.

-"^(C1)As an eagle stirs up its nest, And hovers over its young, ^(C2)He spread His wings, He caught them, He carried them on His pinions.

-"^(C1)The LORD alone guided him, ^(C2)And there was no foreign god with him.

-"^(C1)He had him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; ^(C2)And He had him suck honey from the rock, And ^(F1)(C3)oil from the flinty rock,

Curds of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs And rams, the breed of Bashan, and of goats, ^(C1)With the best of the wheat; And you drank wine of the ^(C2)blood of grapes.

"^(C1)But ^(F1)Jeshurun became fat and kicked— You have become fat, thick, and obstinate— ^(C2)Then he abandoned God ^(C3)who made him, And ^(F2)rejected ^(C4)the Rock of his salvation.

-"^(C1)They made Him jealous with strange gods; ^(C2)With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

-"^(C1)They sacrificed to demons, who were not God, ^(C2)To gods whom they have not known, ^(C3)New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not know.

-"You forgot ^(C1)the Rock who fathered you, ^(C2)And forgot the God who gave you birth.

"^(C1)The LORD saw this, and spurned them ^(C2)Because of the provocation by His sons and daughters.

-"Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, ^(C1)I will see what their end will be; ^(C2)For they are a perverse generation, ^(C3)Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.

-'^(C1)They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their ^(F1)(C2)idols. ^(C3)So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

^(C1)For a fire has flared in My anger, And it burns to the lowest part of ^(F1)Sheol, ^(C2)And devours the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

'^(C1)I will add misfortunes to them; ^(C2)I will use up My arrows on them.

-'^(C1)They will be wasted by famine, and emaciated by ^(F1)plague ^(C2)And a bitter epidemic; ^(C3)And the teeth of beasts I will send against them, ^(C4)With the venom of crawling things of the dust.

-'^(C1)Outside the sword will make them childless, And inside, terror— ^(C2)Both young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hair.

-'I would have said, "^(C1)I will wipe them out, ^(C2)I will remove the mention of ^(F1)their name from humanity,"

Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, "^(C1)Our hand is ^(F1)triumphant, And the LORD has not performed all this."'

"^(C1)For they are a nation ^(F1)destitute of counsel, And there is no understanding in them.

-"^(C1)If only they were wise and they understood this; ^(C2)If only they would discern their ^(F1)future!

-"^(C1)How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their ^(C2)Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?

-"Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock; ^(C1)Even our enemies ^(F1)themselves judge this.

-"For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of ^(C1)poison, Their clusters, bitter.

-"Their wine is the venom of ^(F1)serpents, And the ^(F2)deadly poison of vipers.

'^(C1)Is it not stored up with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?

-'^(C1)Vengeance is Mine, and retribution; ^(C2)In due time their foot will slip. ^(C3)For the day of their disaster is near, And the impending things are hurrying to them.'

-"^(C1)For the LORD will vindicate His people, ^(C2)And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their ^(F1)strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.

-"And He will say, '^(C1)Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge?

-'^(C1)Those who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? ^(C2)Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection!

-'^(C1)See now that I, I am He, ^(C2)And there is no god besides Me; ^(C3)It is I who put to death and give life. ^(C4)I have wounded and it is I who heal, ^(C5)And there is no one who can save anyone from My hand.

-'Indeed, ^(C1)I raise My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,

^(C1)If I have sharpened ^(F1)My flashing sword, And My hand has taken hold of justice, ^(C2)I will return vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.

-'^(C1)I will make My arrows drunk with blood, ^(C2)And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired ^(F1)leaders of the enemy.'

-"^(C1)Rejoice, you nations, with His people; ^(C2)For He will avenge the blood of His servants, ^(C3)And will return vengeance on His adversaries, ^(C4)And will atone for His land and His people."

Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with ^(F1)(C1)Joshua the son of Nun.

When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

he said to them, "^(C1)Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command ^(C2)your sons to ^(F1)follow carefully, all the words of this Law.

"For it is not a ^(F1)trivial matter for you; indeed ^(C1)it is your life. And ^(C2)by this word you will prolong your days in the land, ^(F2)which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^(F3)possess."

Now ^(C1)the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,

"^(C1)Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab ^(F1)opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession.

"Then you are to die on the mountain where you ascend, and be ^(C1)gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

^(C1)because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the ^(C2)wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.

"^(C1)For you will see the land at a distance but ^(C2)you will not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel."