Deuteronomy 32:33

Amplified Bible

"Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of vipers.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.

Update Bible Version
Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras.

English Revised Version
Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of asps.

New Century Version
Their wine is like snake poison, like the deadly poison of cobras.

New English Translation
Their wine is snakes' poison, the deadly venom of cobras.

Webster's Bible Translation
Their wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

World English Bible
Their wine is the poison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The galle of dragouns is the wyn of hem, and the venym of eddris, that may not be heelid.

Young's Literal Translation
The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps.

Berean Standard Bible
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

Contemporary English Version
their wine is more deadly than cobra venom.

American Standard Version
Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of asps.

Bible in Basic English
Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel poison of snakes.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Their vine is the poyson of dragons, and the cruell gall of aspes.

Complete Jewish Bible
their wine is snake poison, the cruel venom of vipers.

Darby Translation
Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of vipers.

Easy-to-Read Version
Their wine is like the poison of deadly snakes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the cruel poison of asps.

King James Version (1611)
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruell venime of Aspes.

New Life Bible
Their wine is the poison of snakes that kill.

New Revised Standard
their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The poison of large serpents, is their wine, - Yea the fierce venom of asps.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Their wine is the poyson of dragons, and the cruel gall of aspes.

George Lamsa Translation
Their venom is the venom of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

Good News Translation
like wine made from the venom of snakes.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable.

Revised Standard Version
their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Their wine is the rage of serpents, and the incurable rage of asps.

Christian Standard Bible®
Their wine is serpents’ venom,the deadly poison of cobras.

Hebrew Names Version
Their wine is the poison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps.

King James Version
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

Lexham English Bible
Their wine is the poison of snakes, and the deadly poison of horned vipers.

Literal Translation
Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Their wyne is the poyson of Dragons, & the furious gall of Adders.

New American Standard Bible
"Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of vipers.

New King James Version
Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras.

New Living Translation
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.

Legacy Standard Bible
Their wine is the venom of serpents,And the deadly poison of cobras.

Contextual Overview

²⁶'I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces [scattering them far away], I will remove the memory of them from men," ²⁷Had I not feared the provocation of the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, "Our [own] hand has prevailed, And the LORD has not done all this."' ²⁸"For they are a nation devoid of counsel, And there is no understanding in them. ²⁹"O that they were wise, that they understood this, That they could discern their future and ultimate fate! ³⁰"How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up? ³¹"For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this. ³²"For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter. ³³"Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of vipers.³⁴'Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? ³⁵'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their disaster is at hand, And their doom hurries to meet them.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the poison: Job 20:14-16, Psalms 58:4, Psalms 140:3, Jeremiah 8:14, *marg. Romans 3:13

Reciprocal: Isaiah 5:2 - wild grapes Ezekiel 15:2 - What Hosea 4:18 - drink Acts 8:23 - the gall James 3:8 - full James 5:3 - Ye have Revelation 14:19 - and cast

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Their wine [is] the poison of dragons,.... Of these creatures, both land and sea dragons, :-;

:-; Pliny says l the dragon has no poison in it; yet, as Dalechamp, in his notes on that writer observes, he in many places prescribes remedies against the bite of the dragon; but Heliodorus m expressly speaks of some archers, whose arrows were infected with the poison of dragons; and Leo Africanus n says, the Atlantic dragons are exceeding poisonous: and yet other writers o besides Pliny have asserted that they are free from poison. It seems the dragons of Greece are without, but not those of Africa and Arabia; and to these Moses has respect, as being well known to him. The Targum of Jerusalem is,

"the poison of this people is like the poison of dragons as they drink wine;''

and the Targum of Jonathan,

"as the poison of dragons, when they are at or from their wine;''

that is, after and as soon as they have drank it; for, according to natural historians, serpents, though they need and use but little drink, yet are very fond of wine: and it seems that thereby their poison becomes more sharp and intense, as Bochart p observes; wherefore the allusion is very proper and pertinent, and denotes the wine of fornication of the apostate church of Rome, frequently spoken of Revelation 14:8; which is no other than her corrupt doctrines, intoxicating, enticing, and leading to idolatry and superstition; and as the true Gospel of Christ is sometimes compared to wine, so the false doctrines of this church; but then it is such that is not only loathsome and abominable, but poisonous and pernicious to the souls of men, damnable and ruinous, and brings upon them swift destruction, 2 Peter 2:1; and may well be compared to the poison of dragons for such reasons; as also because they are doctrines of devils, and come from the great dragon, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, 2 Timothy 4:1;

and the cruel venom of asps; which, of all kind of serpents, Pliny q says is the least curable; nay, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions of this clause, it is incurable; and so Aristotle says r there is no remedy for it; and so says Aelianus s, who also observes t, that the mark it makes is so small, that it is scarcely discerned by the sharpest eye. Pliny u represents it as a most revengeful creature; when its mate is killed by any, it will pursue the slayer, flee where he will, and as far and fast as he can: it breaks through all difficulties, and is not to be stopped by rivers, or any obstacles, and will attack the person, whom it presently knows, let him be in ever such a crowd: and therefore it and its poison may well be called cruel; and as the poison of this creature lies under its tongue, this is a fit simile to express the poisonous and pernicious doctrines of the apostate church.

l Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. m Ethiopic. l. 9. c. 19. p. 438. n Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 763. o Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 4. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 72. p Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14. col. 438, 439. q Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. r Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 29. s De Animal. l. 1. c. 54. & l. 6. c. 38. t Ibid. l. 9. c. 61. u Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 23.

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 32:33. Their wine — Their system of doctrines and teaching, is the poison of dragons, &c., fatal and destructive to all them who follow it.