1  “Give ear, ^kO heavens, and I will speak,

and let ^lthe earth hear the words of my mouth.

2  May ^mmy teaching drop as the rain,

my speech distill as the dew,

like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

and ⁿlike showers upon the herb.

3  For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

ascribe ^ogreatness to our God!

4  ^p“The Rock, ^qhis work is perfect,

for ^rall his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and ^swithout iniquity,

just and upright is he.

5  They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children ^tbecause they are blemished;

they are ^ua crooked and twisted generation.

6  Do you thus repay the Lord,

you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he ^vyour father, who ^wcreated you,

who ^xmade you and established you?

7  ^yRemember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

^zask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

8  When the Most High ^agave to the nations their inheritance,

when he ^bdivided mankind,

he fixed the borders¹ of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.²

9  But the Lord’s portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

10  “He found him ^cin a desert land,

and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he ^dencircled him, he cared for him,

he ^ekept him as the apple of his eye.

11  ^fLike an eagle that stirs up its nest,

that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

bearing them on its pinions,

12  ^gthe Lord alone guided him,

^hno foreign god was with him.

13  ⁱHe made him ride on the high places of the land,

and he ate the produce of the field,

and he suckled him with ^jhoney out of the rock,

and ^koil out of ^lthe flinty rock.

14  Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat³ of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the very finest⁴ of the wheat—

and you drank foaming wine made from ^mthe blood of the grape.

15  “But ⁿJeshurun grew fat, and ^okicked;

^pyou grew fat, stout, and sleek;

^qthen he forsook God ^rwho made him

and scoffed at ^sthe Rock of his salvation.

16  ^tThey stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17  ^uThey sacrificed to demons that were not God,

to gods they had never known,

to ^vnew gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

18  You were unmindful of ^wthe Rock that bore⁵ you,

and you ^xforgot the God who gave you birth.

19  ^y“The Lord saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of ^zhis sons and his daughters.

20  And he said, ^a‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

21  ^bThey have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger ^cwith their idols.

So ^dI will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with ^ea foolish nation.

22  For ^fa fire is kindled by my anger,

and it burns to ^gthe depths of Sheol,

devours the earth and its increase,

and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23  “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;

^hI will spend my arrows on them;

24  they shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured by plague

and poisonous pestilence;

I will send ⁱthe teeth of beasts against them,

with the venom of ^jthings that crawl in the dust.

25  ^kOutdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

26  ^lI would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

^mI will wipe them from human memory,”

27  had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, ⁿ“Our hand is triumphant,

it was not the Lord who did all this.”’

28  “For they are a nation void of counsel,

and there is ^ono understanding in them.

29  ^pIf they were wise, they would understand this;

they would ^qdiscern their latter end!

30  How could ^rone have chased a thousand,

and two have put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock ^shad sold them,

and the Lord had given them up?

31  For ^ttheir rock is not as our Rock;

^uour enemies are by themselves.

32  For their vine ^vcomes from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of ^wpoison;

their clusters are bitter;

33  their wine is the poison of ^xserpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

34  “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,

^ysealed up in my treasuries?

35  ^zVengeance is mine, and recompense,⁶

^afor the time when their foot shall slip;

for ^bthe day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

36  For ^cthe Lord will vindicate⁷ his people

^dand have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

and there is none remaining, ^ebond or free.

37  Then he will say, ^f‘Where are their gods,

^gthe rock in which they took refuge,

38  who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offering?

Let them rise up and help you;

let them be your protection!

39  “‘See now that ^hI, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

ⁱI kill and I make alive;

^jI wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

40  For ^kI lift up my hand to heaven

and swear, As I live forever,

41  if I ^lsharpen my flashing sword⁸

and my hand takes hold on judgment,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

and will repay those who hate me.

42  I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and ^mmy sword shall devour flesh—

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

from the ⁿlong-haired heads of the enemy.’

43  ^o“Rejoice with him, O heavens;⁹

bow down to him, all gods,¹⁰

for he ^pavenges the blood of his children¹¹

and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him¹²

and cleanses¹³ his people’s land.”¹⁴

^z“The Lord came from Sinai

and dawned from Seir upon us;¹

he shone forth from Mount Paran;

he came ^afrom the ten thousands of holy ones,

with flaming fire² at his right hand.

3  Yes, ^bhe loved his people,³

^call his holy ones were in his⁴ hand;

^dso they followed⁵ in your steps,

receiving direction from you,

4  when ^eMoses commanded us a law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

5  Thus the Lord^{6 f}became king in ^gJeshurun,

when the heads of the people were gathered,

all the tribes of Israel together.

6  ^h“Let Reuben live, and not die,

but let his men be few.”

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,

and bring him in to his people.

With your hands contend⁷ for him,

and be a help against his adversaries.”

“Give to Levi^{8 j}your Thummim,

and your Urim to your godly one,

^kwhom you tested at Massah,

with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;

9  who said of his father and mother,

‘I regard them not’;

^lhe disowned his brothers

and ignored his children.

For ^mthey observed your word

and kept your covenant.

10  ⁿThey shall teach Jacob your rules

and Israel your law;

^othey shall put incense before you

and ^pwhole burnt offerings on your altar.

11  Bless, O Lord, his substance,

and ^qaccept the work of his hands;

crush the loins of his adversaries,

of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.

The High God⁹ surrounds him all day long,

and dwells between his shoulders.”

^t“Blessed by the Lord be his land,

with the choicest gifts of heaven ^uabove,¹⁰

and of the deep that crouches beneath,

14  with the choicest fruits of the sun

and the rich yield of the months,

15  with the finest produce of the ancient mountains

and the abundance of ^vthe everlasting hills,

16  with the best gifts of the earth and ^wits fullness

and the favor of ^xhim who dwells in the bush.

May these rest on the head of Joseph,

on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.

17  ^yA firstborn bull¹¹—he has majesty,

and his horns are the horns of a ^zwild ox;

with them ^ahe shall gore the peoples,

all of them, to the ends of the earth;

^bthey are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

^c“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,

and Issachar, in your tents.

19  They shall call peoples ^dto their mountain;

there they offer ^eright sacrifices;

for they draw from the abundance of the seas

and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!

Gad crouches ^glike a lion;

he tears off arm and scalp.

21  ^hHe chose the best of the land for himself,

for there a commander’s portion was reserved;

and ⁱhe came with the heads of the people,

with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,

and his judgments for Israel.”

^k“Dan is a lion’s cub

^lthat leaps from Bashan.”

“O Naphtali, sated with favor,

and full of the blessing of the Lord,

ⁿpossess the lake¹² and the south.”

“Most blessed of sons be Asher;

let him be the favorite of his brothers,

and let him ^pdip his foot in oil.

25  Your bars shall be iron and bronze,

and as your days, so shall your strength be.

26  ^q“There is none like God, O ^rJeshurun,

^swho rides through the heavens to your help,

through the skies in his majesty.

27  The eternal God is your ^tdwelling place,¹³

and underneath are the everlasting arms.¹⁴

And he thrust out the enemy before you

and said, ‘Destroy.’

28  So Israel lived in safety,

^uJacob lived ^valone,¹⁵

in a land of grain and wine,

whose heavens drop down dew.

29  Happy are you, O Israel! ^wWho is like you,

a people ^xsaved by the Lord,

^ythe shield of your help,

and the sword of your triumph!

Your enemies shall come fawning to you,

and you shall tread upon their backs.”