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Sunday, October 13th, 2024
the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

Deuteronomy 32:3

because I will proclaim the name of Jehovah and ascribe greatness to our God.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   Instruction;   Minister, Christian;   Psalms;   The Topic Concordance - Declaration;   Greatness;   Judges;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hymn;   Pentateuch;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Children (Sons) of God;   Deuteronomy;   Poetry;   Targums;   Zin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Hymn;   Majesty;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hymns;   1910 New Catholic Dictionary - canticle;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Other Laws;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Rock;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Amen;   Benedictions;   Gemaṭria;   Hafṭarah;   ḥayyim ben Zebulon Jacob Perlmutter;   Poetry;   Scroll of the Law;   Shemoneh 'Esreh;   Sidra;   Song of Moses;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for April 1;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
For I proclaim the name of Yahweh;Ascribe greatness to our God!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For I wyll publishe the name of the Lord: Ascribe ye honour vnto our God.
Easy-to-Read Version
Praise God as I speak the Lord 's name!
Revised Standard Version
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
World English Bible
For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh: Ascribe greatness to our God.
King James Version (1611)
Because I wil publish the Name of the Lord: ascribe yee greatnesse vnto our God.
King James Version
Because I will publish the name of the Lord : ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For I wyl call vpon the name of the LORDE, geue ye the glory vnto oure God.
American Standard Version
For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah: Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Bible in Basic English
For I will give honour to the name of the Lord: let our God be named great.
Update Bible Version
For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh: Ascribe greatness to our God.
Webster's Bible Translation
Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness to our God.
New English Translation
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord ; you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.
New King James Version
For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.
Contemporary English Version
Join with me in praising the wonderful name of the Lord our God.
Complete Jewish Bible
"For I will proclaim the name of Adonai . Come, declare the greatness of our God!
Darby Translation
For the name of Jehovah will I proclaim: Ascribe greatness unto our God!
Geneva Bible (1587)
For I will publish the name of the Lorde: giue ye glorie vnto our God.
George Lamsa Translation
For I will call upon the name of the LORD; ascribe majesty to our God, the Mighty One.
Good News Translation
I will praise the name of the Lord , and his people will tell of his greatness.
Amplified Bible
"For I proclaim the name [and presence] of the LORD; Ascribe greatness and honor to our God!
Hebrew Names Version
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
New Living Translation
I will proclaim the name of the Lord ; how glorious is our God!
New Life Bible
For I will make known the name of the Lord. I will tell of the greatness of God!
New Revised Standard
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord ; ascribe greatness to our God!
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For I have called on the name of the Lord: assign ye greatness to our God.
English Revised Version
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Berean Standard Bible
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When, the name of Yahweh, I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God: -
Douay-Rheims Bible
Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to our God.
Lexham English Bible
For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh; ascribe greatness to our God!
English Standard Version
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord ; ascribe greatness to our God!
New American Standard Bible
"For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!
New Century Version
I will announce the name of the Lord . Praise God because he is great!
Christian Standard Bible®
For I will proclaim Yahweh's name. Declare the greatness of our God!
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For Y schal inwardli clepe the name of the Lord; yyue ye glorie to oure God.
Young's Literal Translation
For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God!

Contextual Overview

1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak. And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall drop down as the dew, as the small rain on the tender plant, and as the showers on the grass; 3 because I will proclaim the name of Jehovah and ascribe greatness to our God. 4 He is the Rock; His work is perfect. For all His ways are just, a God of faithfulness, and without evil; just and upright is He. 5 They have corrupted themselves; they are not His sons; it is their blemish; they are a crooked and perverse generation. 6 Do you thus give back to Jehovah, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has not He made you and established you?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Because: Exodus 3:13-16, Exodus 6:3, Exodus 20:24, Exodus 34:5-7, Psalms 29:1, Psalms 29:2, Psalms 89:16-18, Psalms 105:1-5, Psalms 145:1-10, Jeremiah 10:6, Jeremiah 23:6, Matthew 1:23, John 17:6, John 17:26

ascribe: Deuteronomy 5:24, 1 Chronicles 17:19, 1 Chronicles 29:11, Psalms 145:3, Psalms 150:2, Jeremiah 10:6, Ephesians 1:19

Reciprocal: Judges 5:3 - O ye kings Psalms 99:4 - strength

Cross-References

Genesis 14:6
and the Horites in the hills of Seir, as far as the oak of Paran, which is by the wilderness.
Genesis 25:30
And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me eat of the red, this red soup , for I am faint. On account of this his name is called Edom.
Genesis 32:6
And the messengers came back to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.
Genesis 32:9
And Jacob said, Oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who said to me, Go back to your land and to your kindred and I will deal well with you.
Genesis 32:31
And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
Genesis 32:32
On account of this the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket until this day, because He touched on Jacob's hip socket, on the sinew of the thigh.
Genesis 33:14
Please let my lord go before the face of his servant, and I will move on by stages at my ease, according to the feet of the livestock which are before me, and according to the pace of the boys, until I come into my lord to Seir.
Genesis 33:16
And Esau returned on his way toward Seir that day.
Deuteronomy 2:5
you shall not fight against them, for I will not give their land to you, even to a step of a sole of a foot, for I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
Deuteronomy 2:22
as He had done for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them and they expelled them, and lived in their place until today.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Because I will publish the name of the Lord,.... Not call on his name, as some, nor call to the heaven and earth in his name, as others, but proclaim his name, even the same that was proclaimed before Moses, Exodus 34:6; and this is to be understood, not of Jehovah the Father, nor of Jehovah the Spirit, but of Jehovah the Son, the rock whose work is perfect, and the rock of salvation, Deuteronomy 32:4; and not of any particular name of his, unless any of those mentioned can be thought to be intended; rather his perfections and attributes, or his Gospel, called his name, Acts 9:15; though his name may signify no other than himself, who is the sum and substance of the Gospel, and who, in his person, office, grace, and salvation, is to be published and proclaimed, openly and publicly, constantly and faithfully, and his name only; for there is no other under heaven whereby man can be saved:

ascribe ye greatness unto our God; to Christ, the rock of salvation, who is truly God, our God, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, and who is the great God, and our Saviour, and therefore greatness is to be ascribed to him: he is great in his person and perfections; his works are great, those of creation and providence, and particularly of redemption and salvation; he is great in his offices, a great Saviour, a great High priest, a great Prophet, a great King, and the great Shepherd of the sheep: those that are called upon to give greatness to him, which is his due, are the heavens and the earth, Deuteronomy 32:1; and both have, literally and figuratively considered, bore a testimony to his greatness; the heavens, at his birth a wonderful star appeared, directing the wise men to him; at his death the sun was darkened; at his ascension the heavens were opened and received him, and still retain him; even God in heaven, by a voice from thence, bore witness of him as his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased; also by raising him from the dead, declaring him to be the Son of God with power, and by exalting him at his right hand as a Saviour, and by the effusion of the Spirit on his apostles, to preach and spread his Gospel; the angels in heaven ascribed greatness to him, by their worship of him when he came into the world, by the declaration they made of him at his incarnation, and by the testimony they bore to his resurrection, and by their subjection to him in all things: the church below, sometimes called heaven, in the book of the Revelation, ascribe all honour, glory, and greatness to him: the earth, the whole terraqueous globe, in it have been displayed the greatness of Christ, the power and glory of his divinity; in the sea by becoming a calm at his word of command, in the rocks by being rent at his death, and will be in both by delivering up the dead in them, at the last day: the inhabitants of the earth, especially the redeemed from among men, ascribe greatness to him, by attributing daily to him all the perfections of the Godhead, and the glory of their salvation: Aben Ezra says, Moses refers to the heavens and the earth, or respects them, and compares with this Psalms 19:1.

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.


 
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