1 Earth and Sky,listen to what I say!
2 Israel, I will teach you.My words will be like gentle rainon tender young plants,or like dew on the grass.
3 Join with me in praisingthe wonderful nameof the Lord our God.
4 The Lord is a mighty rock,and he never does wrong.God can always be trustedto bring justice.
5 But you lie and cheatand are unfaithful to him.You have disgraced yourselvesand are no longer worthyto be his children.
6 Israel, the Lord is your Father,the one who created you,but you repaid himby being foolish.
7 Think about past generations.Ask your parentsor any of your elders.They will tell you
8 that God Most Highgave land to every nation.He assigned a guardian angelto each of them,
9 but the Lord himselftakes care of Israel.
10 Israel, the Lord discovered youin a barren desertfilled with howling winds.God became your fortress,protecting you as thoughyou were his own eyes.
11 The Lord was like an eagleteaching its young to fly,always ready to swoop downand catch them on its back.
12 Israel, the Lord led you,and without the aidof a foreign god,
13 he helped youcapture the land.Your fields were richwith grain.Olive trees grewin your stony soil,and honey was foundamong the rocks.
14 Your flocks and herdsproduced milk and yogurt,and you got choice meatfrom your sheep and goatsthat grazed in Bashan.Your wheat was the finest,and you drank the best wine.
15 Israel, you grew fat and rebelledagainst God, your Creatoryou rejected the Mighty Rock,your only place of safety.
16 You made God jealous and angryby worshiping disgusting idolsand foreign gods.
17 You offered sacrificesto demons, those useless godsthat never helped you,new gods that your ancestorsnever worshiped.
18 You turned awayfrom God, your Creator;you forgot the Mighty Rock,the source of your life.
19 You were the Lord's children,but you made him angry.Then he rejected you
20 and said,“You are unfaithfuland can't be trusted.So I won't answer your prayers;I'll just watch and seewhat happens to you.
21 You worshiped worthless idols,and made me jealousand angry!Now I will send a crueland worthless nationto make you jealous and angry.
22 “My people, I will breathe out firethat sends you downto the world of the dead.It will scorch your farmlandsand burn deep downunder the mountains.
23 I'll send disaster after disasterto strike you like arrows.
24 You'll be struck by starvationand deadly diseases,by the fangs of wild animalsand poisonous snakes.
25 Young and old alikewill be killed in the streetsand terrified at home.
26 “I wanted to scatter you,so no one would rememberthat you had ever lived.
27 But I dreaded the soundof your enemies saying,‘We defeated Israel with no helpfrom the Lord.’ ”
28 People of Israel,that's what the Lordhas said to you.But you don't have good sense,and you never listento advice.
29 If you did, you could seewhere you are headed.
30 How could one enemy soldierchase a thousandof Israel's troops?Or how could two of theirspursue ten thousand of ours?It can only happen if the Lordstops protecting Israeland lets the enemy win.
31 Even our enemies knowthat only our Godis a Mighty Rock.
32 Our enemies are grapevinesrooted in the fieldsof Sodom and Gomorrah.The grapes they produceare full of bitter poison;
33 their wine is more deadlythan cobra venom.
34 But the Lord has writtena list of their sinsand locked it in his vault.
35 Soon our enemies will getwhat they deserve—suddenly they will slip,and total disasterwill quickly follow.
36 When only a fewof the Lord's people remain,when their strength is gone,and some of them are slaves,the Lord will feel sorry for themand give them justice.
37 But first the Lord will say,“You ran for safety to other gods—couldn't they help you?
38 You offered them wineand your best sacrifices.Can't those gods help you nowor give you protection?
39 Don't you understand?I am the only God;there are no others.I am the one who takes lifeand gives it again.I punished you with suffering.But now I will heal you,and nothing can stop me!
40 “I make this solemn promise:Just as I live forever,
41 I will take revengeon my hateful enemies.I will sharpen my swordand let it flashlike lightning.
42 My arrows will get drunkon enemy blood;my sword will taste the fleshand the blood of the enemy.It will kill prisoners,and cut off the headsof their leaders.”
43 Tell the heavens to celebrateand all gods to bow downto the Lord,because he will take revengeon those hateful enemieswho killed his people.He will forgive the sins of Israeland purify their land.
44-45 Moses spoke the words of the song so that all the Israelites could hear, and Joshua helped him. When Moses had finished,
46 he said, “Always remember this song I have taught you today. And let it be a warning that you must teach your children to obey everything written in The Book of God's Law.
47 The Law isn't empty words. It can give you a long life in the land that you are going to take.”
48 Later that day the Lord said to Moses:
49 Go up into the Abarim Mountain range here in Moab across the Jordan River valley from Jericho. And when you reach the top of Mount Nebo, you will be able to see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Israel.
50 Then you will die and be buried on the mountaintop, just as your brother Aaron died and was buried on Mount Hor.
51 Both of you were unfaithful to me at Meribah Spring near Kadesh in the Zin Desert. I am God, but there in front of the Israelites, you did not treat me with the honor and respect I deserve.
52 So I will give the land to the people of Israel, but you will only get to see it from a distance.