Ulangan 32:26-35

The Weakness of Other Gods

32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. ¹ 

I want to make people forget they ever existed.

32:27 But I fear the reaction ²  of their enemies,

for ³  their adversaries would misunderstand

and say, “Our power is great, ⁴ 

and the Lord has not done all this!”’

32:28 They are a nation devoid of wisdom,

and there is no understanding among them.

32:29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this,

and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”

32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, ⁵ 

and two pursue ten thousand;

unless their Rock had delivered them up, ⁶ 

and the Lord had handed them over?

32:31 For our enemies’ ⁷  rock is not like our Rock,

as even our enemies concede.

32:32 For their vine is from the stock ⁸  of Sodom,

and from the fields of Gomorrah. ⁹ 

Their grapes contain venom,

their clusters of grapes are bitter.

32:33 Their wine is snakes’ poison,

the deadly venom of cobras.

32:34 “Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, ¹⁰ 

“Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?

32:35 I will get revenge and pay them back

at the time their foot slips;

for the day of their disaster is near,

and the impending judgment ¹¹  is rushing upon them!”

[32:26]  ¹ tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).

[32:27]  ² tn Heb “anger.”

[32:27]  ³ tn Heb “lest.”

[32:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”

[32:30]  ⁵ tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[32:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “their,” but the referent (enemies) is specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[32:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “vine.”

[32:32]  ⁹ sn Sodom…Gomorrah. The term “vine” is a reference to the pagan deities which, the passage says, find their ultimate source in Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, in the soil of perversion exemplified by these places (cf. Gen 18:20; 19:4-28; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Ezek 16:44-52; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24).

[32:34]  ¹⁰ tn Verses 34-35 appear to be a quotation of the Lord and so the introductory phrase “says the Lord” is supplied in the translation.

[32:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “prepared things,” “impending things.” See BDB 800 s.v. עָתִיד.