Deuteronomy 32:37

Amplified Bible

"And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He will say: “Where are their gods,the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?

Hebrew Names Version
He will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

King James Version
And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

Lexham English Bible
And he will say, ‘Where are their gods, their rock in whom they took refuge?

English Standard Version
Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

New Century Version
Then he will say, "Where are their gods? Where is the rock they trusted?

New English Translation
He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,

New American Standard Bible
"And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge?

Geneva Bible (1587)
When men shal say, Where are their gods, their mighty God in whome they trusted,

Legacy Standard Bible
And He will say, ‘Where are their gods,The rock in which they sought refuge?

Contemporary English Version
But first the Lord will say, "You ran for safety to other gods— couldn't they help you?

Complete Jewish Bible
Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in whom they trusted?

Darby Translation
And he shall say, Where are their gods, Their rock in whom they trusted,

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the Lord will say, ‘Where are the false gods? Where is the "rock" that you ran to for protection?

George Lamsa Translation
And he shall say, Where are their mighty gods, those in whom they trusted,

Good News Translation
Then the Lord will ask his people, ‘Where are those mighty gods you trusted?

Literal Translation
And He will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he shal saye: Where are their goddes, their rocke wherin they trusted?

American Standard Version
And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

Bible in Basic English
And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he shall say: Where are their gods, their god in whom they trusted?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it is said: Where are their gods, the rock in whom they trusted;

King James Version (1611)
And he shall say, where are their gods? Their Rocke in whom they trusted;

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and the Lord said, Where are their gods on whom they trusted?

English Revised Version
And he shall say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they trusted;

Berean Standard Bible
He will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei schulen seie, Where ben `the goddis of hem, in whiche thei hadden trust?

Young's Literal Translation
And He hath said, Where [are] their gods -- The rock in which they trusted;

Update Bible Version
And he will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

Webster's Bible Translation
And he shall say, Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted,

World English Bible
He will say, Where are their gods, The rock in which they took refuge;

New King James Version
He will say: "Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?

New Living Translation
Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods, the rocks they fled to for refuge?

New Life Bible
Then He will say, ‘Where are their gods? Where is the rock where they went to be safe?

New Revised Standard
Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then will he say, Where are their gods, The rock in whom they have trusted;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?

Revised Standard Version
Then he will say, 'Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?

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

Judges 10:14, 2 Kings 3:13, Jeremiah 2:28

Reciprocal: Isaiah 57:6 - to them Jeremiah 7:18 - to pour Jeremiah 11:12 - go Jeremiah 13:25 - trusted Jeremiah 37:19 - Where Ezekiel 13:12 - Where Hosea 13:10 - where 1 Corinthians 10:21 - cannot drink

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he shall say, where [are] their gods?.... Not the Lord shall say to Israel, upbraiding them with their idols and their idolatries; but, as the Targum of Jonathan,

"the enemy shall say, where is the God of Israel?''

and to the same purpose is, the Jerusalem Targum, and which is the sense of other Jewish writers w; and the words may be rendered impersonally, and in the singular number, "and it shall be said, where is their God?" as it follows,

[their] rock in whom they trusted? that is, it shall be said to the people of God, when in the low estate before described, and which will make it still more distressing; it shall be said to them by their enemies in a sneering way, where is the Lord their God they boasted of, and the rock of salvation in whom they trusted? which agrees with other passages of Scripture, Psalms 42:3. The persons insulted and upbraided are the Protestant witnesses at the time of their being slain; when "they that dwell upon the earth", the Papists, "shall rejoice over them", Revelation 11:10; they are such who are true believers in the God and Father of Christ, as their God and Father in Christ, who of his own free grace has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in him; and who trust in Christ the rock alone for justification before God, for acceptance with him, and for their whole salvation; rejecting the Popish notion of justification by works, the doctrines of merit, and of works of supererogation, and the like; who now will be taunted at, and triumphed over, saying, where is the God of the Protestants they gloried in, as being on their side? and where is their rock on which they say the church is built, and not on Peter?

w Aben Ezra & R. Nehemiah in Jarchi in loc.

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 37. He shall say — He shall begin to expostulate with them, to awaken them to a due sense of their ingratitude and rebellion. This may refer to the preaching of the Gospel to them in the latter days.