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Literal Standard Version
Deuteronomy 32:5
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His people have acted corruptly toward him;this is their defect—they are not his childrenbut a devious and crooked generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
They have behaved corruptly toward him; they are not his children; this is their flaw, a generation crooked and perverse.
They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.
They have done evil against him. To their shame they are no longer his children; they are an evil and lying people.
His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children—this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.
"They (Israel) have acted corruptly toward Him. They are not His children, because of their [moral] defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
"They have acted corruptly against Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
They haue corrupted them selues towarde him by their vice, not being his children, but a frowarde and crooked generation.
They have acted corruptly toward Him,They are not His children because of their defect;But are a perverse and crooked generation.
But you lie and cheat and are unfaithful to him. You have disgraced yourselves and are no longer worthy to be his children.
"He is not corrupt; the defect is in his children, a crooked and perverted generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him; Not his children's is their spot:—A crooked and perverted generation!
And you are not really his children. You are completely unfaithful to him. You are crooked liars.
They have corrupted themselves, and they are not his children because of blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
But you are unfaithful, unworthy to be his people, a sinful and deceitful nation.
They have corrupted themselves; they are not His sons; it is their blemish; they are a crooked and perverse generation.
The frowarde and ouerthwarte generacion hath marred them selues to himwarde and are not his children, because of their deformyte.
They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish; They are a perverse and crooked generation.
They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation.
Frowardly haue they done agaynst hym by their vices, not beyng his owne children, but a wicked and frowarde generation.
Is corruption His? No; His children's is the blemish; a generation crooked and perverse.
They haue corrupted themselues, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a peruerse and crooked generation.
They have sinned, not pleasing him; spotted children, a froward and perverse generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish; They are a perverse and crooked generation.
His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
Thei synneden ayens hym, and not hise sones in filthis, `that is, of idolatrie; schrewid and waiward generacioun.
It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked!
They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his sons, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.
They have corrupted themselves, their spot [is] not [the spot] of his children: [they are] a perverse and crooked generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish; [They are] a perverse and crooked generation.
"They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation.
"But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
They have acted in sin toward Him, but they are not His children, because the mark of sin is on them. They are a bad and sinful people.
yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation.
They have broken faith with him to be no sons of his - their fault, - A generation twisted and crooked.
They have sinned against him, and are none of his children in their filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.
They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
"They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
They have corrupted themselves: Heb. He hath corrupted to himself, Deuteronomy 4:16, Deuteronomy 31:29, Genesis 6:12, Exodus 32:7, Judges 2:19, Isaiah 1:4, Hosea 9:9, Zephaniah 3:7, 2 Corinthians 11:3
their spot: etc. or, that they are not his children, that is their blot, John 8:41
a perverse: Deuteronomy 9:24, Psalms 78:8, Isaiah 1:4, Matthew 3:7, Matthew 16:4, Matthew 17:17, Luke 9:41, Acts 7:51, Philippians 2:15
Reciprocal: Leviticus 13:6 - a scab Deuteronomy 9:7 - from the day Deuteronomy 9:12 - corrupted Deuteronomy 32:20 - a very Proverbs 2:15 - General Jeremiah 7:29 - generation Ezekiel 9:9 - The iniquity
Cross-References
for all the wealth which God has taken away from our father, it [is] ours, and our children's; and now, all that God has said to you—do."
And he says, "What to you [is] all this camp which I have met?" And he says, "To find grace in the eyes of my lord."
please receive my blessing which is brought to you, because God has favored me, and because I have all [things]"; and he presses on him, and he receives [it],
And Esau says, "Please let me place with you some of the people who [are] with me"; and he said, "Why [is] this? I find grace in the eyes of my lord."
And they say, "You have revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh";
And Ruth the Moabitess says to Naomi, "Please let me go into the field, and I gather among the ears of grain after him in whose eyes I find grace"; and she says to her, "Go, my daughter."
And she says, "Let your handmaid find grace in your eyes"; and the woman goes on her way, and eats, and her face has not been [downcast] for herself anymore.
And the king says to Ziba, "Behold, all that Mephibosheth has [is] for you"; and Ziba says, "I have bowed myself—I find grace in your eyes, my lord, O king."
Is it because I said, Give to me? And, By your power bribe for me?
Gill's Notes on the Bible
They have corrupted themselves,.... This and what follows may seem to be the characters of the enemies of Christ, who lightly esteemed and rejected him, set in a contrast with him; who were not only corrupt by nature, as all men are, but were men of corrupt minds in their tenets and principles; who corrupted the word of God by their traditions, in the times of Christ; and were men of corrupt practices themselves, and corrupters of others:
their spot [is] not [the spot] of his children; of the children of the divine Person before described; Christ the rock has "children" given him by his Father, in whose adoption he has a concern, and by whose Spirit they are regenerated: these have their "spots"; by which are meant sins, and by those men are stained and polluted; so called in allusion to the spots of animals, as leopards; or to spots in faces and garments, through dirt and the like: by nature they are as others, and while in an unregenerate estate, and indeed after conversion; though they are washed from their sins by the blood of Christ, and are justified by his righteousness, and so without spot, yet in themselves they are not without spots or sins, as their confessions and complaints, and all experience testify: but the spots or sins of wicked men are not like theirs; the children of Christ sin through infirmity of the flesh, and the force of temptation, but wicked men through the malignity of their hearts, willingly and purposely; what good men do of this kind they hate, but what Christless and graceless sinners do they love; saints do not continue in sin, but ungodly men do, and proceed to more ungodliness, and wax worse and worse; gracious souls when they sin, are sorry for it, repent of it, are melted for it, and take shame to themselves on account of it; but unconverted men repent not of their wickedness, are hardened in it, and glory of it; see the character of the Jews in Christ's time, to which this song refers, John 8:44; though these clauses may be rendered to another sense, more agreeably to the context, and to the Hebrew accents, as they are by some; "is there any corruption in him? no" n, that is, is there any corruption in the illustrious Person before described, as without iniquity, just, and right? no, none at all in his nature, divine or human; not in his divine nature, being the incorruptible God; nor in his human nature, which is entirely free from that corruption by sin, common to all that des, tend from Adam by natural generation, he being conceived under the power of the Holy Ghost; nor any in his life and conversation, being perfectly agreeable to the pure and holy law of God; nor any in his doctrines, however they may be charged by ignorant and malicious men, a proof of which follows: or "his children are their spot" o; so the clause may be rendered; the spots of the Jewish nation, the most wicked and vilest among them, became his children; not only the lowest and meanest of them, as to civil and worldly things, but the more ignorant and the more wicked, even publicans and harlots; these, and not the righteous, he came to call and save, and did receive; these were regenerated by his grace, and they believed in him; and to them gave he power to become his children: but then did they remain the wicked persons they had been? no, they were made new creatures, they were internally sanctified, and lived holy lives and conversations; a clear proof this, that there was no corruption in Christ, nor in his doctrine, and that he neither by his tenets nor example encouraged sin, but all the reverse; Wisdom is justified of her children, Matthew 11:19; but then the rest, and the far greater part of the Jewish nation, in his time, have their character truly drawn, as follows:
[they are] a perverse and crooked generation; men of perverse and crooked natures, tempers, dispositions, ways, and works; who walked contrary to the will and law of God, and were indeed contrary to all men, 1 Thessalonians 2:15; this is the very character that is given of them, Matthew 17:17.
n ש×ת ×× ×× "an est ipsi corruptio? non", Cocceius, van Till, Vitringa. o ×× ×× ×××× "filii ejus macula eorum", Van Till; "filii ejus labes ipsorum", 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, Godâs 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: âA Prayer of Moses,â 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 Godâs preventing mercies, His peopleâs faithlessness and ingratitude, Godâs 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 âthe stone of Israelâ in Genesis 49:24; and see 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalms 18:2; Matthew 16:18; John 1:42. Zur, the original of âRock,â 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 âeverlasting strengthâ Isaiah 26:4, âthe Mighty Oneâ Isaiah 30:29; in this chapter they have rightly adhered to the letter throughout.
Deuteronomy 32:5
Render: âItâ (i. e. âthe perverse and crooked generationâ) âhath corrupted itself before Him (compare Isaiah 1:4); they are not His children, but their blemish:â i. e., the generation of evil-doers cannot be styled Godâs children, but rather the shame and disgrace of Godâs 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, âhath acquired thee for His own,â or âpossessed thee:â compare the expression âa peculiar people,â margin âa purchased people,â in 1 Peter 2:9.
Deuteronomy 32:8
That is, while nations were being constituted under Godâs 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 âaccording to the number of the children of Israel;â i. e., proportionate to the wants of their population. Some texts of the Greek version have âaccording to the number of the Angels of God;â 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, âin a waste, the howling of a wilderness,â i. e., a wilderness in which wild beasts howl. The word for âwasteâ is that used in Genesis 1:2, and there rendered âwithout form.â
Deuteronomy 32:11
Compare Exodus 19:4. The âso,â which the King James Version supplies in the next verse, should he inserted before âspreadeth,â and omitted from Deuteronomy 32:12. The sense is, âso He spread out His wings, took them up,â 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, âto be righteousâ); 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 Israelâs 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, ânot God,â 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 Godâs 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, ânot a people,â and âa foolish nation,â mean such a people as, not being Godâs, 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 âwise and understanding peopleâ 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 âfour sore judgments,â 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 Israelâs 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 âchase,â but to whom, as a punishment for faithlessness, Israel was âsold,â Deuteronomy 32:30. Moses leaves the decision, whether âtheir rockâ (i. e. the false gods of the pagan to which the apostate Israelites had fallen away) or âour Rockâ 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 Israelâs God heightened the folly of Israelâs 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: âVengeance 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 Godâs 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 âmarried and single,â or âguarded and forsaken,â but signifying generally âall men of all sorts.â
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 32:5. Their spot is not the spot of his children — This verse is variously translated and variously understood. They are corrupted, not his, children of pollution. - KENNICOTT. They are corrupt, they are not his children, they are blotted. - HOUBIGANT. This is according to the Samaritan. The interpretation commonly given to these words is as unfounded as it is exceptionable: "God's children have their spots, i. e., their sins, but sin in them is not like sin in others; in others sin is exceedingly sinful, but God does not see the sins of his children as he sees the sins of his enemies," c. Unfortunately for this bad doctrine, there is no foundation for it in the sacred text, which, though very obscure, may be thus translated: He (Israel) hath corrupted himself. They (the Israelites) are not his children: they are spotted. Coverdale renders the whole passage thus: "The froward and overthwart generation have marred themselves to himward, and are not his children because of their deformity." This is the sense of the verse. Let it be observed that the word spot, which is repeated in our translation, occurs but once in the original, and the marginal reading is greatly to be preferred: He hath corrupted to himself, that they are not his children that is their blot. And because they had the blot of sin on them, because they were spotted with iniquity and marked idolaters, therefore God renounces them. There may be here an allusion to the marks which the worshippers of particular idols had on different parts of their bodies, especially on their foreheads; and as idolatry is the crime with which they are here charged, the spot or mark mentioned may refer to the mark or stigma of their idol. The different sects of idolaters in the East are distinguished by their sectarian marks, the stigma of their respective idols. These sectarian marks, particularly on the forehead, amount to nearly one hundred among the Hindoos, and especially among the two sects, the worshippers of Seeva, and the worshippers of Vishnoo. In many cases these marks are renewed daily, for they account it irreligious to perform any sacred rite to their god without his mark on the forehead; the marks are generally horizontal and perpendicular lines, crescents, circles, leaves, eyes, c., in red, black, white, and yellow. This very custom is referred to in Revelation 20:4, where the beast gives his mark to his followers, and it is very likely that Moses refers to such a custom among the idolatrous of his own day. This removes all the difficulty of the text. God's children have no sinful spots, because Christ saves them from their sins and their motto or mark is, Holiness to the Lord.