Deuteronomy 32:1
in Deuteronomy 32Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
KJV
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
2 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Song of Moses If Deu 32:1-3 be regarded as the introduction, and Deu 32:43 as the conclusion, the main contents of the song may be grouped under three heads, namely, (1) Deu 32:4-18, the faithfulness of God, the faithlessness of Israel; (2) Deu 32:19-33, the chastisement and the need of its infliction by God; (3) Deu 32:34-42, God’s compassion upon the low and humbled state of His people.
This site's exposition
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak
on Deuteronomy 32:1-3
Heaven and earth are summoned as witnesses, which is what Moses did the day before at 31:28 and twice earlier at 4:26 and 30:19. Isaiah 1:2 opens his own prophecy with the same summons, so the form outlived the man using it here. Verse 2 asks for the words to fall as rain on grass rather than as a sentence read out, and verse 3 names the subject before the song starts.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
By way of the plain meaning of Scripture, the words of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra are correct that the Scriptures designate as witnesses all things which exist and endure. Similarly, Hear O ye mountains, the Eternal’s controversy. 1 Micah:2.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ | haazinu | give ear | H238 → | |
| הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם | hashamayim | O heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה | vaadaberah | so let me speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע | vetishma' | and it may hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אִמְרֵי־ | ʾimrei- | [the] words of | H561 → | |
| פִֽי׃ | fi | mouth my | H6310 → | 498 times |
הַאֲזִ֥ינוּgive ear
haazinuH238 →
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִםO heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָהso let me speak
vaadaberahH1696 →1141 times
וְתִשְׁמַ֥עand it may hear
vetishma'H8085 →1159 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
אִמְרֵי־[the] words of
ʾimrei-H561 →
פִֽי׃mouth my
fiH6310 →498 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 30:19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 30:15
See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.
- Deuteronomy 11:26
See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
- Psalms 119:30
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
- Proverbs 8:36
But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
- Joshua 24:15–22
But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods…
- Deuteronomy 30:15
Through
Jeremiah 22:29O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
it leads to
- Micah 1:2
Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 1:2
Through
Deuteronomy 4:26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it,…
it leads to
- Micah 6:2
Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
- Micah 6:2
Through
Isaiah 1:2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
- Deuteronomy 30:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.