the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Deuteronomy 32:29
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If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
I wish they were wise and understood this; I wish they could see what will happen to them.
I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them."
O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would consider their latter end!
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
Y wolde that thei saueriden, and `vnderstoden, and purueiden the laste thingis.
If they were wise -- They deal wisely [with] this; They attend to their latter end:
If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
If you did, you could see where you are headed.
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future!
O that they were wyse, and vnderstoode this, that they woulde consider their latter ende.
(v) If they were wise they could figure it out and understand their destiny.
Oh that they had been wise! they would have understood this, They would have considered their latter end!
If they were wise, they would understand; they would know what would happen to them.
If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end.
O that they were wise, that they vnderstood this, that they would consider their latter end.
If they were wise, they would understand this. They would know their future!
If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern what the end would be.
If they had been wise, they would have understood this, - They would have given heed to their here-after!
Oh yt they were wise, then they would vnderstand this: they would consider their latter ende.
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
They fail to see why they were defeated; they cannot understand what happened.
O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end.
If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end!
They had not sense to understand: let them reserve these things against the time to come.
If only they were wise, they would comprehend this;they would understand their fate.
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
If only they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern for themselves their end.
If they were wise, they would understand this; they would consider their latter end.
O that they were wyse & vnderstode this, that they wolde cosidre what shulde happe vnto them her after.
"If only they were wise and they understood this; If only they would discern their future!
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
Oh, that they were wise and could understand this! Oh, that they might know their fate!
"Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future!
Would that they were wise, that they had insight into this,That they would understand their future!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
O that: Deuteronomy 5:29, Psalms 81:13, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:43, Isaiah 48:18, Isaiah 48:19, Hosea 14:9, Luke 19:41, Luke 19:42
they would: Isaiah 10:3, Isaiah 47:7, Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah 17:11, Lamentations 1:9, Luke 12:20, Luke 16:19-25
Reciprocal: Genesis 6:6 - grieved Deuteronomy 4:39 - and consider 2 Kings 5:7 - Amos I God Psalms 90:12 - So Psalms 94:8 - fools Psalms 106:7 - Our Psalms 107:8 - Oh that men Proverbs 5:11 - thou Proverbs 19:20 - be Proverbs 24:32 - I looked Ecclesiastes 7:2 - that Ecclesiastes 11:8 - yet Isaiah 1:3 - but Israel Isaiah 27:11 - for it is Isaiah 42:23 - will give Isaiah 46:8 - Remember Jeremiah 6:8 - Be thou Jeremiah 9:12 - the wise Ezekiel 12:3 - it may Ezekiel 18:28 - he considereth Ezekiel 37:3 - O Lord God Hosea 7:2 - consider not in Haggai 2:18 - Consider Luke 12:57 - General Luke 13:34 - how 1 Timothy 4:1 - the latter 2 Timothy 2:7 - Consider 2 Peter 2:20 - the latter
Cross-References
Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
He commanded them, saying, "This is what to say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says this, "I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now;
So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired:
two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams,
He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds."
then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.'"
Then He said, "Let Me go, for day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me."
So He asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."
And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."
Then Jacob asked Him, "Please tell me Your name." But He said, "Why is it that you ask My name?" And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
O that they were wise,.... These are not the words of God, and so no instances of mere velleities, and unsuccessful wishes in him, and as arguing a power in man to make himself wise if he would; but of Moses, under a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the ignorance and stupidity of the above persons; or as representing a true believer in Christ, in the times in which such men should live; for the person speaking is one that had faith in Christ, the rock of salvation, and built upon him alone for it; and who had enemies on that account, as appears from Deuteronomy 32:31: and these words are spoken not of the Jews, with whom this song has no more concern, unless it be in what respects, their conversion in the latter day; but of false Christians, Pelagians, Arians, c. whose language and character are expressed in
Deuteronomy 32:28: and contain a pathetic wish that they might have wisdom to see their follies, errors, and mistakes, and renounce them: or, "if they were wise" k as they are not, and their tenets show it:
[that] they would understand this; namely what follows:
[that] they would consider their latter end; either the latter end of the Jews; had they wisdom, they would understand and observe that the displeasure of God against them, and his destruction of them, was for their lightly esteeming the rock of salvation, as Arians do; and for setting up their own righteousness, in opposition to the righteousness of Christ, as do Pelagians and Arminians; and were they wise, they would be hereby cautioned against such notions; and though imbibed by them, would relinquish them; as they may justly fear some such like end will be theirs: for if God does not give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth their end must be miserable; since the errors they embrace and profess are what the apostle calls "damnable heresies"; who, denying the Lord that bought them, bring on themselves swift destruction; and whose judgment, he says, lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not, 2 Peter 2:1.
k לו חכמו "o si sapcrent", Tigurine version; "si sapuissent", Vatablus; "si saperent", Cocceius.
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, God’s 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: “A Prayer of Moses,” 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 God’s preventing mercies, His people’s faithlessness and ingratitude, God’s 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 “the stone of Israel” in Genesis 49:24; and see 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalms 18:2; Matthew 16:18; John 1:42. Zur, the original of “Rock,” 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 “everlasting strength” Isaiah 26:4, “the Mighty One” Isaiah 30:29; in this chapter they have rightly adhered to the letter throughout.
Deuteronomy 32:5
Render: “It” (i. e. “the perverse and crooked generation”) “hath corrupted itself before Him (compare Isaiah 1:4); they are not His children, but their blemish:” i. e., the generation of evil-doers cannot be styled God’s children, but rather the shame and disgrace of God’s 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, “hath acquired thee for His own,” or “possessed thee:” compare the expression “a peculiar people,” margin “a purchased people,” in 1 Peter 2:9.
Deuteronomy 32:8
That is, while nations were being constituted under God’s 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 “according to the number of the children of Israel;” i. e., proportionate to the wants of their population. Some texts of the Greek version have “according to the number of the Angels of God;” 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, “in a waste, the howling of a wilderness,” i. e., a wilderness in which wild beasts howl. The word for “waste” is that used in Genesis 1:2, and there rendered “without form.”
Deuteronomy 32:11
Compare Exodus 19:4. The “so,” which the King James Version supplies in the next verse, should he inserted before “spreadeth,” and omitted from Deuteronomy 32:12. The sense is, “so He spread out His wings, took them up,” 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, “to be righteous”); 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 Israel’s 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, “not God,” 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 God’s 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, “not a people,” and “a foolish nation,” mean such a people as, not being God’s, 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 “wise and understanding people” 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 “four sore judgments,” 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 Israel’s 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 “chase,” but to whom, as a punishment for faithlessness, Israel was “sold,” Deuteronomy 32:30. Moses leaves the decision, whether “their rock” (i. e. the false gods of the pagan to which the apostate Israelites had fallen away) or “our Rock” 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 Israel’s God heightened the folly of Israel’s 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: “Vengeance 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 God’s 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 “married and single,” or “guarded and forsaken,” but signifying generally “all men of all sorts.”
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 32:29. That they would consider their latter end! — אחריתם archaritham, properly, their latter times-the glorious days of the Messiah, who, according to the flesh, should spring up among them. Should they carefully consider this subject, and receive the promised Saviour, they would consequently act as persons under infinite obligations to God; his strength would be their shield, and then:-
