1 'Give ear, O heavens, and I speak ; And thou dost hear, O earth, sayings of my mouth !
2 Drop as rain doth My doctrine ; Flow as dew doth My sayings ; As storms on the tender grass, And as showers on the herb,
3 For the Name of Jehovah I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness to our God !
4 The Rock ! — perfect [is] His work, For all His ways [are] just ; God of stedfastness, and without iniquity : Righteous and upright [is] He.
5 It hath done corruptly to Him ; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked !
6 To Jehovah do ye act thus, O people foolish and not wise ? Is not He thy father — thy possessor ? He made thee, and doth establish thee.
7 Remember days of old — Understand the years of many generations — Ask thy father, and he doth tell thee ; Thine elders, and they say to thee :
8 In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam — He setteth up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of Israel.
9 For Jehovah's portion [is] His people, Jacob [is] the line of His inheritance.
10 He findeth him in a land — a desert, And in a void — a howling wilderness, He turneth him round — He causeth him to understand — He keepeth him as the apple of His eye.
11 As an eagle waketh up its nest, Over its young ones fluttereth, Spreadeth its wings — taketh them, Beareth them on its pinions ; —
12 Jehovah alone doth lead him, And there is no strange god with him.
13 He maketh him ride on high places of earth, And he eateth increase of the fields, And He maketh him suck honey from a rock, And oil out of the flint of a rock ;
14 Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, and rams, sons of Bashan, And he-goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat ; And of the blood of the grape thou dost drink wine !
Note · Deutéronome 32.1–14
La mémoire commence par le soin reçu
Le Dieu juste est comparé au rocher, et son attention envers le peuple à une protection patiente. Le verset 8 existe avec des lectures anciennes différentes, relatives aux fils d’Israël ou à des êtres divins. Cette variation invite à la prudence dans la reconstruction de l’arrière-plan du poème ; elle n’efface pas son affirmation du lien avec Jacob.
15 And Jeshurun waxeth fat, and doth kick : Thou hast been fat — thou hast been thick, Thou hast been covered. And he leaveth God who made him, And dishonoureth the Rock of his salvation.
16 They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry.
17 They sacrifice to demons — no god ! Gods they have not known — New ones — from the vicinity they came ; Not feared them have your fathers !
18 The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee.
19 And Jehovah seeth and despiseth — For the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20 And He saith : I hide My face from them, I see what [is] their latter end ; For a froward generation [are] they, Sons in whom is no stedfastness.
21 They have made Me zealous by 'no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities ; And I make them zealous by 'no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry.
22 For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol — the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains.
23 I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them.
24 Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat, and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With poison of fearful things of the dust.
25 Without bereave doth the sword, And at the inner-chambers — fear, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair.
Note · Deutéronome 32.15–25
L’abondance peut nourrir l’oubli de sa propre origine
Jeshurun, nom poétique d’Israël, s’engraisse et abandonne celui qui l’a fait vivre. Le contraste ne condamne pas le fait de manger à sa faim ; il vise une suffisance qui rompt la relation. Les images de désastre ne permettent pas d’attribuer une faute cachée à toute personne frappée par le malheur.
26 I have said : I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man ;
27 If not — the anger of an enemy I fear, Lest their adversaries know — Lest they say, Our hand is high, And Jehovah hath not wrought all this.
28 For a nation lost to counsels [are] they, And there is no understanding in them.
29 If they were wise — They deal wisely [with] this ; They attend to their latter end :
30 How doth one pursue a thousand, And two cause a myriad to flee ! If not — that their rock hath sold them, And Jehovah hath shut them up ?
31 For not as our Rock [is] their rock, (And our enemies [are] judges !)
32 For of the vine of Sodom their vine [is], And of the fields of Gomorrah ; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall — They have bitter clusters ;
33 The poison of dragons [is] their wine And the fierce venom of asps.
34 Is it not laid up with Me ? Sealed among My treasures ?
35 Mine [are] vengeance and recompense, At the due time — doth their foot slide ; For near is a day of their calamity, And haste do things prepared for them.
36 For Jehovah doth judge His people, And for His servants doth repent Himself. For He seeth — the going away of power, And none is restrained and left.
37 And He hath said, Where [are] their gods — The rock in which they trusted ;
38 Which the fat of their sacrifices do eat, They drink the wine of their libation ! Let them arise and help you, Let it be for you a hiding-place !
Note · Deutéronome 32.26–38
La victoire des ennemis n’établit pas leur souveraineté
Le poème envisage la prétention des adversaires à se croire seuls auteurs de leur victoire. Il annonce aussi la compassion lorsque les forces du peuple sont épuisées. Ce déplacement interdit de lire le jugement comme une approbation sans réserve des oppresseurs ou comme une disparition définitive de toute relation avec Israël.
39 See ye, now, that I — I [am] He, And there is no god with Me : I put to death, and I keep alive ; I have smitten, and I heal ; And there is not from My hand a deliverer,
40 For I lift up unto the heavens My hand, And have said, I live — to the age !
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.'
Note · Deutéronome 32.39–43
La justice de Dieu n’est pas une vengeance remise au lecteur
Les images de mort, de guérison et de rétribution donnent à la conclusion une force redoutable. Elles ne désignent pas une population actuelle à combattre. Romains 12.19 reprend l’attribution de la vengeance à Dieu pour détourner les croyants de la revanche personnelle, et non pour leur en déléguer l’exécution.
44 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,
46 and saith unto them, 'Set your heart to all the words which I am testifying against you to-day, that ye command your sons to observe to do all the words of this law,
47 for it [is] not a vain thing for you, for it [is] your life, and by this thing ye prolong days on the ground whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it.'
Note · Deutéronome 32.44–47
Transmettre la parole concerne la vie des générations suivantes
Moïse et Josué font entendre le chant, puis les parents sont appelés à transmettre. Le texte insiste sur la portée vitale de cette parole. La répétition n’est pas censée produire une récitation vide : elle vise une écoute qui puisse orienter une conduite et être reprise par ceux qui viendront.
48 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in this self-same day, saying,
49 'Go up unto this mount Abarim, mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, which [is] on the front of Jericho, and see the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession ;
50 and die in the mount whither thou art going up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother hath died in the mount Hor, and is gathered unto his people :
51 'Because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribath-Kadesh, the wilderness of Zin — because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the sons of Israel ;
52 but over-against thou seest the land, and thither thou dost not go in, unto the land which I am giving to the sons of Israel.'
Note · Deutéronome 32.48–52
Voir la promesse ne signifie pas l’accomplir soi-même
La montée au mont Nébo est reliée à la limite prononcée après Meriba. Moïse ne franchira pas le Jourdain. Le récit maintient ensemble sa mission exceptionnelle et cette fin douloureuse ; il ne permet pas de mesurer la valeur de chaque vie à l’achèvement visible de tous ses projets.