Deuteronomy 32:4
New International Version
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

New Living Translation
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

English Standard Version
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Berean Standard Bible
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

King James Bible
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

New King James Version
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

New American Standard Bible
“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and just is He.

NASB 1995
“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

NASB 1977
“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Legacy Standard Bible
The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Amplified Bible
“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness without iniquity (injustice), Just and upright is He.

Christian Standard Bible
The Rock —his work is perfect; all his ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Rock—His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true.

American Standard Version
The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For his works are without blemish and all his ways are judgment; God is trustworthy and is not evil; He is righteous and upright.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
As for God, his works are true, and all his ways are judgment: God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in him; just and holy is the Lord.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD is a mighty rock, and he never does wrong. God can always be trusted to bring justice.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.

English Revised Version
The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are judgment: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He is a rock. What he does is perfect. All his ways are fair. He is a faithful God, who does no wrong. He is honorable and reliable.

Good News Translation
"The LORD is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all his ways; Your God is faithful and true; he does what is right and fair.

International Standard Version
Flawless is the work of the Rock, because all his ways are just. A faithful God—never unjust— righteous and upright is he.

JPS Tanakh 1917
The Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice; A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is He.

Literal Standard Version
The Rock—His work [is] perfect, | For all His ways [are] just; God of steadfastness, and without iniquity; Righteous and upright [is] He.

Majority Standard Bible
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

New American Bible
The Rock—how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he!

NET Bible
As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright.

New Revised Standard Version
The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he;

New Heart English Bible
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A faithful God and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Webster's Bible Translation
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity: just and right is he.

World English Bible
The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

Young's Literal Translation
The Rock! -- perfect is His work, For all His ways are just; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity: Righteous and upright is He.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Song of Moses
3For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God! 4He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He. 5His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.…

Cross References
Genesis 18:25
Far be it from You to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Deuteronomy 32:15
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked--becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

Deuteronomy 32:18
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

2 Samuel 22:3
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, You save me from violence.

2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.


Treasury of Scripture

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

the Rock

Deuteronomy 32:18,30,31
Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee…

1 Samuel 2:2
There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

2 Samuel 22:2,3,32,47
And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; …

his work

Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

all his

Deuteronomy 10:18
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Genesis 18:25
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Job 35:14
Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

a God

Exodus 34:6
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Psalm 31:5
Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Psalm 98:3
He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

without

Job 34:10
Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

Psalm 92:15
To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Habakkuk 1:13
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

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Complete Deceit Evil Iniquity Injustice Judgment Justice Keeps Perfect Right Righteous Righteousness Rock True. Truth Upright Ways Work Works Wrong
Deuteronomy 32
1. Moses' song, which sets forth God's mercy and vengeance
46. He exhorts them to set their hearts upon it
48. God sends him up to mount Nebo to see the land, and to die














(4) He is the rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.--No such combination of all the words for uprightness, sincerity, equity, and reliability is to be found elsewhere in all Scripture. This is the character of the Rock. This name of God ( Tzur) is one of the characteristics of the song. The word occurs first in Exodus 17, where the Rock in Horeb was smitten; "and that Rock was Christ." From that time we find that the very names of the leaders in Israel embody this confession. Elizur, my God is a Rock; Zurishaddai, the Almighty is my Rock; and Pedahzur, redeemed by the Rock (Numbers 1:5-6; Numbers 1:10), are examples. So exclusively is the term in Hebrew (Tz-r or Selagh) used in this sense, that no man is ever described by it in the Old Testament. And the LXX., in this song and in many other places, do not translate it at all, but give it as God (????). In other places the word Petra (never Petros) is employed. This fact convinces me that the Petra of Matthew 16:18 could only have been understood by Jews as denoting Deity; and that it not only referred to Christ, but to Christ as God. No other interpretation will suit the language of Holy Scripture. This fourth verse, like the third, is a stanza of four lines. The first line is answered by the third, and the second line by the fourth.

Verses 4, 5. - He is the Rock, his work is perfect; rather, The Rock! his work is perfect, i.e. blameless, without fault. God is called "the Rock" (הַצוּר), as the unchangeable Refuge and Stronghold of his people, by which they are sustained, and to which they can resort for defense and protection at all times. The epithet is applied to God four times besides in this song (vers. 15, 18, 30, 31); it occurs also frequently in the Psalms (cf. Psalm 19:14; Psalm 28:1; Psalm 31:2, 3; Psalm 62:2, 7; etc.). The Hebrew word, tsur, gut, or zur, appears in several proper names of the Mosaic period, as e.g., Pedahzur, "Rock delivers" (Numbers 1:10), a name of the same import as Pedahel, "God delivers" (Numbers 34:28); Elizur, "God is a Rock" (Numbers 1:5); Zuriel (Numbers 3:35) and Zurishaddai, "the Almighty is Rock" (Numbers 1:6; Numbers 2:12). "Jehovah," says Baumgarten, "is here called Rock, without any qualification, the reason is that he is the only true rock, and all the strength and firmness of earth's stones is but an ectype of his unchangeable faithfulness and rectitude. If one cleaves to the dualism of spirit and nature, and regards the figure as a merely subjective, arbitrary union of the two, such an expression is simply unintelligible; but if we would understand Scripture and religious speech, we must with all earnestness accustom ourselves to recognize the spiritual ground in nature, and apprehend this in the Biblical expression (comp. Steffens' 'Religionsphilosophie,' 1. s. 101, 102)." It is remarkable that none of the ancient versions have retained this epithet here. The LXX. have Θεὸς: the Vulgate, Dens ("Dei opera"); the Targum of Onkelos, תַּקִיפָא, "Mighty;" while the Peshito has simply the pronoun "his" appended to "works," . For all his ways are judgment; i.e. accordant with rectitude (cf. Psalm 145:17). A God of truth; rather, of faithfulness (אְמֶוּנָת, from אָמַן, to stay, or be stayed, to be firm). They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Of this difficult passage the following seems the best construction and rendering: - A perverse and crooked generation not his children, [but] their spot - has become corrupt towards him. The subject of the verb at the beginning of the verse is the "perverse and crooked generation," at the end of it, and between the verb and its subject there is interjected parenthetically the clause, "not his children, but their spot." Spot is here used in a moral sense, as in Job 11:15; Job 31:7; Proverbs 9:7. These corrupt persons claimed to be children of God, but they were not; they were rather a stain and a reproach to them (cf. 2 Peter 2:13; Isaiah 1:4). The rendering above given is substantially that of De Wette, Knobel, Keil, and Herxheimer, by all of whom the "perverse generation "is regarded as the subject of the sentence. This is the view adopted also in the 'Speaker's Commentary.' Some would make "God" the subject, and render, "He hath corrupted to him, or to himself" (margin, Authorized Version; Ibn Ezra, etc.). Others take "spot" as the subject, thus: "Their spot or blemish hath corrupted before him children not his" (Lowth, Dathe); but such renderings are forced, and proceed on constructions of the text which are illegitimate. Donaldson ('Jashar,' pp. 186, 223, edit. See.), following Lowth's construction, appeals to בָּנִים לא אֵמֻן בָּם (ver. 20) as a similar inversion. But the two cases are not parallel. To make them so, we must have here בָנָיו לא מוּם בָּם, "his children in whom is no spot." Ewald takes מוּמָה as the noun here, instead of מוּם, and tracing it to the Syriac , juravit, renders "to him they, his not sons, have corrupted their oath," i.e. have broken it; and this Furst approves. But the phrase, "to corrupt an oath" is unexampled in the Old Testament, and there is no ground for changing the noun. The ancient versions vary considerably here: LXX., ἡμάρτοσαν οὐκ αὐτῷ τέκνα μωμητά: Aq., διέφθειραν αὐτῷ οὐκ δι υἱοὶ αὐτου: Sym., διέφθειραν πρὸς αὔτον οὐχ οἱυἱοι τὸ σύνολον: Vulgate, peccaverunt ei et non filii ejus in sordibus; Ver. Itala., peeca verunt non ei filii maculati; Syriac, "They corrupted but not him, children of defilement." These various renderings indicate that probably the text is and has long been corrupt. Some of the older English versions are worth noting on this verse. Rogers [Matthew], "The frowarde and overthwart generation hath marred them selves to himward, and are not his sonnes for their deformitie's sake;" Bishop's Bible, "Frowardly have they done agaynst him by their vices, not being his own children, but a wicked and froward generation;" Geneva Version, "They have corrupted themselves towards him by their vice, not being his children, but a froward and crooked generation."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
[He is] the Rock,
הַצּוּר֙ (haṣ·ṣūr)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6697: A cliff, a rock, boulder, a refuge, an edge

His work
פָּעֳל֔וֹ (pā·‘o·lōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6467: Doing, deed, work

is perfect;
תָּמִ֣ים (tā·mîm)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 8549: Entire, integrity, truth

all
כָל־ (ḵāl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

His ways
דְּרָכָ֖יו (də·rā·ḵāw)
Noun - common plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

are just.
מִשְׁפָּ֑ט (miš·pāṭ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4941: A verdict, a sentence, formal decree, divine law, penalty, justice, privilege, style

A God
אֵ֤ל (’êl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 410: Strength -- as adjective, mighty, the Almighty

of faithfulness
אֱמוּנָה֙ (’ĕ·mū·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 530: Firmness, steadfastness, fidelity

without
וְאֵ֣ין (wə·’ên)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

injustice,
עָ֔וֶל (‘ā·wel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5766: Injustice, unrighteousness

righteous
צַדִּ֥יק (ṣad·dîq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6662: Just, righteous

and upright
וְיָשָׁ֖ר (wə·yā·šār)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 3477: Straight, right

[is] He.
הֽוּא׃ (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock his work is perfect (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 32:3
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