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
7 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 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.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
PateriusEXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, DEUTERONOMY 19 · Written before 606.
proposed
By heavens he means the order of the clergy and by earth the people subject to them. For "Listen, O heavens, and I shall speak" was addressed not to insensible but to rational creation.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
27 ); the heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. Or heaven and earth are here put for the inhabitants of both, angels and men; both shall agree to justify God in his proceedings against Israel, and to declare his righteousness, Ps. l. 2. he begins with a solemn application of what he was about to say to the people (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
My doctrine shall drop, &c.--The language may justly be taken as uttered in the form of a wish or prayer, and the comparison of wholesome instruction to the pure, gentle, and insinuating influence of rain or dew, is frequently made by the sacred writers (Isa 5:6;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
On the inimitable excellence of this ode much has been written by commentators, critics, and poets - and it is allowed by the best judges to contain a specimen of almost every species of excellence in composition. It is so thoroughly poetic that even the dull Jews themselves found they could not write it in the prose form; and hence it is distinguished as poetry in every Hebrew Bible by being written in its own hemistichs or short half lines, which is the general form of the Hebrew poetry; and were it translated in the same way it would be more easily understood. The song itself has suffered both by transcribers and translators, the former having mistaken some letters in different places, and made wrong combinations of them in others. As to the translators, most of them have followed their own fancy, from good Mr. Ainsworth, who ruined it by the most inanimate rhyming version, to certain latter poets, who have cast it unhallowedly into a European mould. See the observations at the end of the chapter, Deu 32:52. Give ear, O ye heavens - Let angels and men hear, and let this testimony of God be registered both in heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are appealed to as permanent witnesses.
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
Studies17
On this verse
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Paterius, EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, DEUTERONOMY 19.