Listen Up Israel, and Act Right! Haazinu: Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52 Being Chosen Also Means Obligation
Note: In the Commentary below wherever the text is given entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS it means that the Translation is entirely our own and differs from that found in conventional versions.
Ha-Azinu
Ha-Azinu is translated as Give ear in the first verse, i.e. listen, harken.
Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52
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s.1 32:1-6
Deuteronomy 32:
1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop like the rain,
my speech condense like the dew;
like gentle rain on grass,
like showers on new growth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock, his work is perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he;
5 THEY HAVE CORRUPTED THEMSELVES, NOT HE. THE BLEMISH OF HIS CHILDREN IS THEIR OWN FAULT. A CROOKED AND TWISTED GENERATION.
Many words in English derive from Hebrew.
THE BLEMISH. Hebrew "Moomam" i.e. their imperfection, disqualifying impairment, BLEMISH.
The English word "maim" meaning "mutilate, cripple" has its origin given as Middle English maynhe, Old French mahaignier. These are possibilities but like most alleged etymologies no more than that. The word "MAIM" would in Biblical Hebrew be how one would say "Impart a Moom". It is the Verbal Form of the Hebrew noun "Moom". There are many English words like that. One could reconstruct spoken Hebrew from Biblical Times with the assistance of such examples from Old English!
No-one is likely however to undertake such a work since the only people who could appreciate it would be those with knowledge of both Biblical Hebrew and English and with some initial curiosity regarding the possibility of an ancient link between English and Hebrew.
The verse above should ALSO be rendered:
THEY DESTROY THEMSELVES, NOT HE, HIS CHILDREN ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN BLEMISH.
THEY ARE A STUBBORNLY DEVIOUS AND TWISTED GENERATION.
God is just. Mankind is the cause of misfortune. In most cases we cannot plead innocence.
Deuteronomy 32:
6 Do you thus repay the LORD,
O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
We are responsible for our own lackings and failings.
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s.2 32:7-12
Deuteronomy 32:
7 Remember the days of old,
consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
We have to consider the lessons of history and take them to heart. God Himself exhorts us HERE to take the history of our forefathers to heart: Remember the days of old.
Deuteronomy 32:
8 When the Most High apportioned the nations,
when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the Children of Israel;
Note the last line of the verse because for some reasons there are translations that mistranslate this.
It says the boundaries of the non-Israelite nations are fixed according to the number of the Children of Israel!
Yehudah Kiel in the Commentary Daat Mikra on Chronicles ("Sefer Divrei-Hayamim") points out that there were seventy divisions of the sons of Noah (Genesis 10) from whom derive all present human beings. After that there were seventy divisions of the sons of Abraham including the registered offspring of Keturah, Ishmael, Esau, and the Twelve sons of Israel. This was followed by the seventy sons and grandsons of Israel who went down to Egypt (Genesis 46) and after that inherited the Land (Numbers ch.26).
We thus have three outreaching circles:
Seventy Entities from Noah.
Seventy Entities from Abraham.
Seventy Entities from Israel.
The seventy families of Israel founded tribal clans. They are later recalled in the Bible and in archaeological findings in Israel as separate entities.
In our book,
The Tribes - The Israelite Origins of Western People
http://britam.org/the-Tribes.html
We have shown how these Tribal clans became historical bodies and in some cases nations or sub-sections of nations in their own right. We have traced with great detail the migrations and historical permutations of these Clans. There were seventy of them. Each one in some way may be considered to parallel a non-Israelite Nation!
The Israelite peoples (according to our understanding of Scripture, others appear to disagree) are destined to rule over the nations of the earth. Each group of non-Israelite nations is apportioned to a different Israelite tribe.
Historically nations that we have identified as containing within them a significant proportion of Israelites have ruled over other peoples. They were the major colonial powers and at one stage divided a good portion of the earth between them. Great Britain ruled over a quarter of it! France and Holland also had large empires. France ruled over much of West and Northern Africa and also Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and other places. The Netherlands ruled Indonesia, and at one stage Ceylon, and Dutch Guana in South America, and other regions. The USA ruled the Philipines, Panama, and indirectly controlled a great many "banana" republics in Latin America and the Caribbean. Belgium ruled the Congo. It may be that the areas ruled by these at least partly-Israelite entities reflect something of their inner being, some aspect of their national character?
Hints as to which Israelite tribes are somehow connected to which non-Israelite ones may be obtained from the names.
Gog for instance is the name of the leader of a vast non-Israelite people (Ezekiel 38:2) as well as being a name found in the Israelite Tribe of Reuben (1-Chronicles 5:4) :
Tarshish was a clan of Benjamin (1-Chronicles 7:10) as well as being the name of a nation descended from Javan (Genesis 10:4) and thus related to the ancient Greeks.
Gomer son of Japhet in Genesis 10 was the forefather of several important national groups.
Gomer is also the name in the Book of Hosea whose children represent the Ten Tribes of Israel in their places of Exile.
Deuteronomy 32:
9 the LORD's own portion was his people,
Jacob his allotted share.
The Israelites are the people of God. The expression am segulah (Deuteronomy 7:6 14:2 26:18) usually translated as chosen people could also be translated as executive people. The Israelites are destined to be the Staff or seconds-in-command of God Almighty!
Deuteronomy 32:
10 He sustained him in a desert land,
in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the apple of his eye.
We have been exceedingly ungrateful. God chose us above all others. This means that we have the potential to be especially blessed but also an innate obligation to reach higher than others.
In an army one has privates, NCOs, officers, and generals. Each one has their own task and responsibility. The higher one goes the more privileges (rank, status, remuneration, etc) are given and a higher standard of behavior is expected. The same principle applies everywhere else.
Deuteronomy 32:
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its pinions,
The eagle is the symbol of the USA.
Deuteronomy 32:
12 the LORD alone guided him;
no foreign god was with him.
The Providence of the Eagle over its young is taken to symbolize the care God Almighty takes of HIS people.
In the past, God alone led us and helped us yet we refused to acknowledge HIM.
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s.3 32:13-18
Deuteronomy 32:
13 He set him upon the heights of the land,
and fed him with produce of the field;
he nursed him with honey from the crags,
with oil from flinty rock;
The best places on earth have been bequeathed to the seed of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:
14 BUTTER OF CATTLE, AND MILK FROM THE FLOCK
WITH THE FAT OF SHEEP AND RAMS.
PRODUCT OF THE BASHAN
LIVESTOCK GIVING RICHES
THE FAT OF FULL WHEAT
Cattle. The KJV renders it as KINE meaning (in Old English) "cows". The English word Kine is from the Hebrew "Mikneh" meaning cattle. It is derived from the root KoNeH meaning possession.
PRODUCT OF THE BASHAN: The Bashan is now in the region we know as Syria. It was promised to Israel and is destined to return to them.
There is a breed of sheep known as merino that originally came from Spain and then was developed in Australia. This made Australia a rich country. The Australians say they grew up as a nation on the sheeps back due to the rich woolen fleece produced by the merino. I suspect the merino developed originally in the Land of Israel. The Mishna (ca 100 CE) refers to sheep as Children of Meron.
The Arabian horse and the best European breeds of horses as well as the sheep and horses of the ancient Scythians also came from Israel. The same may apply to breeds of cattle. A lot could be done on this topic. Indirectly it could provide yet another clue indicative of Israelite ancestry and the pathways of ancient migration.
Deuteronomy 32:
15 AND YOU SHALL DRINK WINE FROM THE BLOOD OF GRAPES.
Jacob ate his fill;
Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!
He abandoned God who made him,
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
JESHURUN is an ancient name for Israel. A Phoenician inscription has been found mentioning The Sea and Yeshurun, Land of Tyre (reported by Sloutschz). The Phoenicians and Israelites were closely connected. Part of the so-called Phoenicians at some stage were actually Israelite Tribes.
See our work Lost Israelite Identity and its revised version, Hebrew Ancestry, now in preparation.
Deuteronomy 32:
16 They made him jealous with strange gods,
with abhorrent things they provoked him.
God is a jealous God. We should be careful not to worship other gods nor pay them respect even inadvertently.
Deuteronomy 32:
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to deities they had never known,
to new ones recently arrived,
whom your ancestors had not feared.
Deuteronomy 32:
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
The God of Israel created us and looked after us and watched over us. Everything we have achieved was thanks to His Providence.
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s.4 32:19-28
Deuteronomy 32:
19 The LORD saw it, and was jealous;
he spurned his sons and daughters.
HE spurned, in Hebrew veyi-NA-aTZ: from the root NATs meaning treat with contempt, blaspheme. In Hebrew the word could be understood to say:
they [by their sins] caused the Nazis to come.
The Palestinian Arabs and anti-Jewish Muslim Fanatics in general are just as bad in their aims as the Nazis were. Maybe worse. Ideological and personal links existed between the Nazi ideologists (and their German forebears) and the Moslim Brotherhood that gave raise to both the PLO and Hamas.
There is a difference however between the Nazis and the Arabs. The Arabs may be even worse!
The Nazis at least at first tried to make a pretence that they did not really want to exterminate all the Jews outright. There were Jews who believed that they had a chance of surviving under the Jews right up to the time they entered into the gas chambers that were disguised as shower systems. The Arabs are not so. As soon as they get a chance, even smell a remote possibility, they will attempt to exterminate all of us. Many of them already say as much openly.
The Arabs feel the same way about the USA and Britain probably because these entities are on the one hand considered weak while on the other representative of life-styles opposed to Islam.
In the Second World War the Arabs were pro-Nazi and admired Hitler and still do.
I am not acting as a psychologist of these people but they hate the USA, Britain, and Israel separately. The fact that conceptually they can be linked together in the Islamic mind compounds the hatred.
So be hated
BUT
As Oliver Cromwell said: Praise the LORD and pass the ammunition.
Deuteronomy 32:
20 He said: I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
When a person sins it is as if he displays lack of faith. If we had true faith we would not usually allow ourselves to sin. When a person does repentance and rectifies his actions he restores his acknowledgment of God's presence.
Deuteronomy 32:
21 They made me jealous with what is no god,
provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with what is no people,
provoke them with a foolish nation.
I will make them jealous. In Hebrew Akniyam also translatable as arouse to anger.
with what is no people or THOSE WHO ARE NOT A PEOPLE e.g. tent-dwelling sons of bandits who despise us because we are not like them.
Deuteronomy 32:
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
a fire is kindled by my anger. The Arabs intermiitently try to burn up all the forests in Israel. If they had their way they would cause this area to return to the desert condition it was in when they controlled the area. In that case, after a time a few of them could live here and almost nobody else. Burn the forests, bring in the goats, raise the temperature, kill, rob, and rape each other, no more generous assistance from the Jewish Israeli government, less children that survive childhood, etc. It would not take long for the population to decrease.
When Israel ruled the West Bank with a relatively stronger hand most of the Arab population supported Israel and would have voted to belong to Israel. Now when (partly due to overseas pressure and the financial backing of retrograde elements) Israeli is weak and has lessened its control the Arabs smell death and cannot hold themselves back.
Deuteronomy 32:
23 I will heap disasters upon them,
spend my arrows against them:
24 wasting hunger,
burning consumption,
bitter pestilence.
The teeth of beasts I will send against them,
with venom of things crawling in the dust.
The teeth of beasts: biological warfare?
with venom : chemicals?
Deuteronomy 32:
25 In the street the sword shall bereave,
and in the chambers terror,
for young man and woman alike,
nursing child and old grey head.
26 I thought to scatter them
and blot out the memory of them from humankind;
to scatter them. This occurred to the Jews of Judah whereas the Lost Ten Tribes were exiled to a few specific areas.
blot out the memory of them. This may refer to the Lost Ten Tribes who in practical terms have been forgotten. As far as the general public and academia are concerned it is almost as if the Ten Tribes never existed. Physically however they are present and will come to have their ancestral identity made know to them.
Deuteronomy 32:
27 but I feared provocation by the enemy,
for their adversaries might misunderstand
and say, Our hand is triumphant;
it was not the LORD who did all this.
God will not let our adversaries ever have total victory over us lest they imagine their own gods to stronger than the God of Israel who is the only God.
Deuteronomy 32:
28 They are a nation void of sense;
there is no understanding in them.
This refers to Israel or the enemies of Israel or both of them.
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s.5 32:29-39
Deuteronomy 32:
29 If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern what the end would be.
30 How could one have routed a thousand,
and two put a myriad to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
the LORD had given them up?
31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock;
our enemies are CRIMINALLY CULPABLE.
CRIMINALLY CULPABLE: Hebrew pelilim. At one time the State of Israel had support from all over. Now the West are condemning us for having been attacked and not laying down to die quickly enough.
Deuteronomy 32:
32 Their vine comes from the vine-stock of Sodom,
from the vineyards of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of serpents,
the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
because the day of their calamity is at hand,
their doom comes swiftly.
36 Indeed the LORD will vindicate his people,
have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
neither bond nor free remaining.
God will judge us if we have sinned.
God will judge us but HE will also severely punish they who have oppressed us.
Deuteronomy 32:
37 Then he will say: Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
The State of Israel trusted in the USA and in world opinion. As a result of so-called Oslo Agreements (1993) Israel under pressure gave guns (or acquiesced in the acquisition of guns) to Palestinian low life murderers and criminals. Jews are now being shot and humiliated with these guns. Jews are getting blamed for being victims and/or not letting themselves be killed quickly enough.
Deuteronomy 32:
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you,
let them be your protection!
The CIA trained the Palestinian military forces. Why? The CIA gave money to Israeli left-wing forces to pressure Israel to retreat before the Arab Nazis. Why?
Now EU nations subisidise Jewish would-be Quislings and anti-Zionists NGOs. Partly Israelite nations in the EU (such as Britain, Norway, Finland) are major culprits in subsidising traitors to the Jewish Peoples and in giving money to Arab terrorists, perverts, and murderers.
Deuteronomy 32:
39 See now that I, even I, am he;
there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and no one can deliver from my hand.
I kill and I make alive. Does this hint at a Future Resurrection?
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s.6 32:40-43
Deuteronomy 32:
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and swear: As I live for ever,
41 when I whet my flashing sword,
and my hand takes hold on judgement;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and will repay those who hate me.
repay those who hate me: The enemies of the Jews are the enemies of God and HE will take vengeance.
Deuteronomy 32:
42 I SHALL MAKE MY MISSILES DRUNK WITH BLOOD
AND MY SWORD WILL EAT FLESH
WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN AND CAPTIVES
DUE TO THE PROGROMS THE ENEMY CONDUCTED FROM THE BEGINNING.
This could happen very soon.
Deuteronomy 32:
43 LET THE GENTILES PRAISE HIS PEOPLE.
FOR THE BLOOD OF HIS SERVANTS SHALL BE AVENGED
VENGEANCE WILL BE TAKEN FROM HIS ADVERSARIES
AND HIS LAND SHALL ATONE FOR HIS PEOPLE.
The Jewish people in the State of Israel will God willing assert themselves and confound their enemies and the allies of their enemies. The enemies of Judah are the adversaries of the God of Israel!
VENGEANCE WILL BE TAKEN FROM HIS ADVERSARIES: All those who oppress and persecute the Jews will be punished. The USA has become the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth, against all logic and prognostications. Despite everything America is probably the greatest nation ever known. The USA was also (and to a degree still is) the only real backer of Israel. Who knows if the blessings the USA enjoyed were not due at least partly to the USA support for the State of Israel and also due to the help the USA extended to oppressed Jews in Russia, Ethiopia, etc. The USA did fulfill the role of Joseph, assisted his brothers, fed and succored the world, introduced reforms to foreign cultures.
Despite its sins and shortcomings the USA did fulfill the will of the Almighty on a national and international level. In this case the USA also fulfilled the role of servant of God. The enemies of the USA will be punished.
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s.7 32:44-52
Deuteronomy 32:
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun.
45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them: Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law.
You have to teach your children to believe in God and the Bible.
Deuteronomy 32:
47 This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.
trifling matter. Hebrew "davar raik" i.e. something that is empty. The Bible is not empty. It is the word of the Almighty.
The Hebrew "raik" means empty, hollow, worthless. Later one had the word "Raikah" from the same root and this word meant an immoral, profligate person, empty of self-respect.
In English we have thew word "rake" meaning a profligate person. This word is explained as being short for rakehell i.e. someone who rakes (pulls) in evil unto himself. Nevertheless as in many such cases the English word corresponds nicely with the Hebrew usage.
There are psychological parallels between English and Hebrew.
but rather your very life: The Bible can solve all your problems and lead you in the right path, redeem you. Through reading and studying the Bible you know you are not alone. Gods Providence is with you and sometimes you see this with your own eyes.
Deuteronomy 32:
48 On that very day the LORD addressed Moses as follows:
49 Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession;
the land of Canaan: All the ancient Land of Canaan from the Nile to the Euphrates River is the chosen land that belongs to Israel. The Jewish people as keepers of the Law are caretakers for all Israel concerning the land. Inheriting the land is linked with keeping the Law. At present the Law is only kept by the Jews of Judah. It is true that most Israelis are not religious but many are and they are the only ones who are.
See:
The Land of Israel by Rabbi Yehonatan Davidiy
http://www.britam.org/Yehonatan.html
and
Nachmanides: The Connection Between Law and Land
http://britam.org/Moses/Moses-2.html
Brit-Am and the Law of Moses
http://www.britam.org/worship.html
Deuteronomy 32:
50 you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin;
51because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites.
Sometimes a person is put under a test the results of which can change his entire life. We must do the best we can, pray to God, and hope that we successfully pass any tests that befall us.
Deuteronomy 32:
52 Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it, the land that I am giving to the Israelites.
Moses could no come into the Land of Israel even though he was the greatest prophet who ever lived. There was a reason for this. There are spiritual reasons for physical facts. Some things can be fought and overcome and some things must be accepted. Sometimes the acceptance should be permanent and sometimes only for a time. It happens that bad luck can pass and a blessing come instead of a curse. We are commanded to always keep going, never give up, and do the best we can.
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The Haftorah
Hosea 14
http://britam.org/hosea14.html
Israel must return to the Almighty and be reconciled with HIM. There is no other choice. The Return of the Lost Ten Tribes is symbolized by the Brit-Am Rose, official symbol of Brit-Am.
See:
The Brit-Am and Tudor Roses
http://britam.org/Rose.html
Hosea 14:
1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Yehudah Kiel ("Daat Mikra") points out that Hosea gives here a summarization of Exhortations found in the Bible. Israel is not of this world. Israel is separate from other nations. Israel has been blessed exceedingly and may be punished proportionately so. Israel should take this to heart. The Almighty does not want to hurt us. Let us return to God and once again HE will guide us and be with us and bless us.
Hosea 14:
2 Take words with you
and return to the LORD;
say to him,
Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
Prayers are likened to sacrifices in the Temple.
When the Temple stood we could bring a sacrifice as a gift to God, have your sins forgiven , and receive the sweetness of God being close to you.
Now, you can do the same by praying!
Our forefathers worshipped God by offering sacrifices such as fattened calves. Once the Temple was built sacrifices were forbidden to Israelites outside of the Temple site. Today we have no Temple and cannot make sacrifices. The whole purpose of the sacrifice however was to arouse us to repentance and to draw us close to the Almighty. The word for sacrifice in Hebrew is "korban" from the root KRB which connotes "to bring closer".
The Prophet tells us that instead of a physical sacrifice we may make a physical and emotional effort to pray to God with our lips and offer ourselves to HIM. This will be considered as if we had offered up fat calves.
Hosea 14:
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, Our God,
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.
"Asshur [i.e. Assyria = Germany or United Europe] shall not save us"
Hosea 14:
4 I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
Hosea 14:
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily,
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
"lily" is "shoshana" actually meaning the rose which (as a rosette) was a symbol of royalty in ancient Israel [and in other nations: there was an article some time ago in Biblical Archaeological Review on this].
The Tudor Rose of England is described in the opening pages of the Zohar as the mark of Israel.
Our organization "Brit-Am, the Ten Tribes Movement" identifies peoples from Western Europe as the Lost Ten Tribes and works for their reconciliation with Judah has adopted an adaptation of the Tudor Rose as its official symbol.
Hosea 14:
6 His shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.
"Lebanon" was actually mainly part of the territory of ancient Israel. The isle of Britain was known as Alba or Albion though later the term Alba was confined to Scotland. These names are forms of the word for Lebanon.
Hosea 14:
7 They shall again live beneath my shadow,
they shall flourish as a garden;
they shall blossom like the vine,
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
We see here a hint of Ephraim being linked with Lebanon.
Zechariah 10:10 prophesies that in the Last Days Ephraim shall return and settle in Lebanon and Gilead meaning Syria.
Hosea 14
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me.
9 Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
We should believe in God and do as well as we can.