I am He: the Lord vindicates his people, and the nations are called to rejoice (Deuteronomy 32:36–43)

Says "For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone" (32:36, BSB).

Uncertain Whether יָדִין (yadin, 32:36) means "vindicate" or "judge." This commentary leans, with the Hebrew note on 32:36–39, to "vindicate," because the parallel line speaks of compassion on his servants when their strength is gone. The alternative is "judge," reading the verse as the start of the judgment of 32:37–43. Heb 10:30 quotes the line in a warning to God's people (Heb 10:26–31), where it is read as "will judge"; the Greek matches both the Septuagint and the Hebrew word for word, without the opening "for."

Says "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge" (32:37, BSB). "See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal" (32:39, BSB).

Uncertain Whether "I bring death and I give life" (32:39) points to resurrection. This commentary leans, with the Hebrew note, to its plain sense: God's sovereign power over life and death and his restoring of his people, given the parallel "I wound and I heal" and the restoration in 32:36–43. The alternative, taken up by later Jewish and Christian readers, is that it speaks of raising the dead; the wording allows it, since the one who kills is then the one who makes alive.

Says The Lord swears by himself, "As surely as I live forever" (32:40, BSB), and will "repay those who hate Me" (32:41, BSB).

Says The MT of 32:43 has four lines; the Septuagint has eight, and the BSB follows a longer text ("Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him," 32:43, BSB).

The text printed here keeps the MT in all three units: the single call to the nations (low confidence), no "worship him" line (low confidence), and "his land, his people" (medium confidence). See the textual notes on 32:43, the minor variants in 32:43, and the Greek note on the eight lines.

Uncertain Whether וְכִפֶּר (vekhipper, 32:43) means "cleanse" or "atone for." This commentary leans, with the Hebrew note on 32:40–43, to "cleanse," as the BSB has it ("He will cleanse His land and His people," 32:43, BSB), since its object is the land after the blood is avenged. The alternative is "make atonement for," taking the shed blood as something to be expiated; the Aramaic Targum reads it so.

Says Rom 15:10 quotes the third line of the Septuagint, Εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη, μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ ("rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people," literal), word for word; the Hebrew has no word for "with." See the cross-reference note on Rom 15:10.

Uncertain Which text Heb 1:6 quotes: Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ ("and let all the angels of God worship him," literal). This commentary leans, with the cross-reference note on Heb 1:6, to the Song in a Greek form like F's (a Septuagint manuscript whose reading Swete logs) or the Odes (Odes 2:43): "and" and the third-person verb match it, while Ps 96:7 (97:7 MT) is second person with "his angels." The alternative is Ps 96:7, with Hebrews 1 quoting the Psalms elsewhere. The Hebrew of Deut 32:43 has no such line.