Passage

Deuteronomy 32.43

Book: Deuteronomy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

41. If I whet my glittering sword, And my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. 42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.

43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people.

And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; (Deuteronomy 32:41-45, ASV)

WEB

41. if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. 42. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”

43. Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.

Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45. Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:41-45, WEB)

KJV

41. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. 42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. ^{Rejoice: or, Praise his people, ye nations: or, Sing ye}

And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. ^{Hoshea: or, Joshua} 45. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: (Deuteronomy 32:41-45, KJV)

YLT

41. If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand doth lay hold on judgment, I turn back vengeance to Mine adversaries, And to those hating Me, I repay! 42. I make drunk Mine arrows with blood, And My sword devoureth flesh, From the blood of the pierced and captive, From the head of the freemen of the enemy.

43. Sing ye nations, [with] his people, For the blood of His servants He avengeth, And vengeance He turneth back on His adversaries, And hath pardoned His land, His people.'

And Moses cometh and speaketh all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun; 45. and Moses finisheth to speak all these words unto all Israel, (Deuteronomy 32:41-45, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Moses, reciting the Song of Moses (32:1-43; 31:30; 32:44); this closing verse speaks of Jehovah in the third person
Audience: "all the assembly of Israel" (31:30), with the nations summoned to join the praise
Location: the land of Moab, east of the Jordan, before the entry into Canaan (1:5)
Time period: the fortieth year after the exodus (1:3), shortly before Moses' death (32:48-52). Conservative dates place this in the late fifteenth or the thirteenth century BC; critical scholars date the book's composition much later, while many treat the Song as an older poem.

Theological reading

"Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries, And will make expiation for his land, for his people." The Song of Moses ends with a call to praise.

The nations invited. The Song has told of Israel's unfaithfulness and of God's judgment, and it closes by summoning "the nations" (Strong's H1471) to rejoice "with his people" (H5971). Paul quotes the line in Romans 15:10, "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people," in a chain of texts showing that God always meant the Gentiles to glorify him alongside Israel.

Vengeance and expiation. God will "avenge the blood (H1818) of his servants (H5650)" and "render (H7725) vengeance to his adversaries." He will also "make expiation" (H3722, kaphar, the verb of atonement) for his land and people, where the KJV has "be merciful unto his land." Justice and atonement close the Song together.

Three forms of the text. The verse survives in more than one form. The Masoretic Hebrew text has four lines. A Hebrew manuscript from Qumran (4QDeut q) and the Greek Old Testament are longer, and among the extra lines is a call for heavenly beings to worship God: "bow down to him, all gods" at Qumran, "let all the sons of God worship him" in the Greek. Textual critics discuss which form is earlier, and many hold that the Qumran text preserves lines missing from the Masoretic tradition. This is the ordinary textual variation that the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint reveal in many books, not evidence of tampering by anyone.

Hebrews 1:6. "And let all the angels of God worship him" (Hebrews 1:6) draws on this longer form of the verse, with wording close also to the Greek of Psalm 97:7, "worship him, all his angels." In the Song the one to be worshipped is God himself; the author of Hebrews applies the line to the Son. Jehovah's Witnesses render the verb proskyneo there as "do obeisance," a sense the word can carry. The source settles the sense in this case: the line Hebrews quotes is a summons to worship the God of Israel, and Hebrews gives it to the Son. See Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H3722 - kaphar, kaphar, Strong's H3722
H1818 - dam, dam, Strong's H1818
H5650 - ebed, ebed, Strong's H5650
H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.