The Song of Moses
(Revelation 15:1–4)

1Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;

and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2Let my teaching drop like rain,

my speech shall distill as the dew,

as raindrops on the tender herb,

and as showers on the grass.

3For the name of YHWH I proclaim;

ascribe greatness to our God.

4The Rock—perfect His work is,

for all His ways are just;

a God of truth and without injustice,

righteous and upright is He.

5They have corrupted themselves;

because of their blemish they are not His sons,

a generation perverse and crooked.†

6Is it even to YHWH that you⁺ would act this way,

O people foolish and unwise?

Is not He your Father who created you,

He who made you and established you?

7Remember the days of old,

consider the years of generation upon generation.

Ask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

8When the Most High gave their inheritance to the nations,

when He separated the sons of man,

He set the boundaries of the peoples

by the number of the sons of God.†

9For YHWH's portion is His people;

Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

10He found him in a desert land,

and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;

He encircled him, He instructed him,

He kept him as the pupil† of His eye.

11As an eagle stirs up his nest,

he hovers over his young,

he spreads his wings, he takes him,

he carries him upon his pinions,†

12YHWH alone led him,

and no foreign god was with him.

13He made him ride on the heights of the earth,

that he might eat the fruits of the field.

And He made him draw honey from the rock,

and oil from the flinty rock,

14curds of the herd and milk of the flock,

with fat of lambs,

and rams of the sons of Bashan,

and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat;

and of the blood of the grape

you drank wine.

15And Jeshurun† grew fat and kicked—

you grew fat, you grew thick, you gorged—

and he forsook God who made him

and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

16They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;

with abominations they provoked Him to anger.

17They sacrificed to demons, not to God,

to gods they had not known.

New ones—from the vicinity they came—

that your⁺ fathers did not fear.

18The Rock who brought you forth you neglected,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19And YHWH saw it, and He spurned them,

from the provocation of His sons and His daughters.

20And He said, “I will hide My face from them,

I shall see what is their end;

for a perverse generation are they,

sons in whom is no faithfulness.

21They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;

they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.

And I will provoke them to jealousy by those not a people;†

by a foolish nation I will anger them.†

22For a fire is kindled by My anger,

and it burns to the depths of Sheol,

and it shall consume the earth and its yield,

and scorch the foundations of the mountains.

23I will heap upon them disasters;

My arrows I will spend on them:

24Wasted by famine

and devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;

and the teeth of beasts I will send against them,

with the poison of fearful things of the dust.

25Outside the sword will bereave,

and inside shall be terror

for the young man and virgin,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

26I said I would dash them in pieces,

I would remove their memory from among men,

27if I had not feared the wrath of the enemy,

lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, ‘Our hand is high,

and it is not YHWH who has done all this.’”

28For they are a nation void of counsel,

and in them there is no understanding.

29If only they were wise, that they understood this,

they would consider their latter end!

30How does one pursue a thousand,

and two put to flight a myriad,

if not that their Rock had sold them

and YHWH had surrendered them?

31For their rock is not like our Rock,

and our enemies themselves are judges.†

32For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of gall,

their clusters are bitter.

33The poison of serpents is their wine,

and the cruel venom of cobras.

34“Is not this laid up with Me,

sealed up among My treasures?

35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.†

In time their foot shall slip,

for the day of their calamity is at hand,

and the things to come upon them hurry.”

36For YHWH will judge His people,†

and on His servants have compassion,

when He sees that the power is gone,

and there is no one, slave or free.

37And He will say, “Where are their gods,

the rock in which they sought refuge,

38that ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?

Let them rise and help you⁺

and be for you⁺ a shelter.

39See now that I—

I am He—and there is no God besides Me;

I kill and I give life,

I wound and I heal,

and from My hand

none can deliver.

40For I lift up My hand to the heavens and say,

as I live forever,

41if I have sharpened the brightness of My sword,

and My hand takes hold on judgment,

I will turn back vengeance to My enemies

and those who hate Me I will repay.

42I will make drunk My arrows with blood,

and My sword shall devour flesh,

with the blood of the slain and captives,

from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.”

43Rejoice, O heavens, with Him,

and let all God’s angels worship Him.,† Rejoice, O nations, with His people;†

for the blood of His children† He will avenge,

and vengeance He will return on His adversaries

and He will repay those who hate Him,†

and He will provide atonement for His land—His people.

44And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people—he and Joshua† son of Nun. 45And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46and He said to them, “Set your⁺ hearts on all the words that I testify among you⁺ today, which you⁺ shall command your⁺ sons to be careful to do—all the words of this law. 47For it is not a futile thing for you⁺, because it is your⁺ life, and by this word you⁺ shall prolong days in the land that there you⁺ are passing over the Jordan to possess it.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

48And YHWH spoke to Moses this same day, saying, 49“Go up into this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel as a possession.

50And die on the mountain that you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

51upon that you⁺ trespassed against Me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, upon that you⁺ did not sanctify Me in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52Yet from a distance you shall see the land, and there you shall not go into the land that I am giving to the sons of Israel.”

Footnotes:

5 Cited in Philippians 2:15
8 DSS; LXX according to the number of the angels of God; MT according to the number of the sons of Israel
10 Or the apple
11 Pinions are the outer parts of a bird’s wings, including the flight feathers.
15 Jeshurun means the upright one, a term of endearment for Israel.
21 Or not a nation; see also LXX.
21 Cited in Romans 10:19
31 Hebrew; LXX but our enemies are void of understanding
35 LXX; Hebrew Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; cited in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30
36 Or will vindicate His people; see also LXX; cited in Hebrews 10:30
43 See DSS and LXX; MT lacks Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Cited in Hebrews 1:6
43 Cited in Romans 15:10
43 DSS and LXX; MT servants
43 LXX and Vulgate; MT lacks and He will repay those who hate Him
44 LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate; Hebrew Hoshea, a variant of Joshua