Deuteronomy 32:35

Deu 32:35 To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in [due] time: for the day of their calamity [is] at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Ver. 35. To me belongeth vengeance and recompense.] The Hebrew word for vengeance, זהם, signifies comfort also; for God will be comforted in the execution of his wrath. {Eze 5:13} {See Trapp on "Deu 28:63"} He shows such severity sometimes as if he had blotted that out of his title, {Exo 34:6} and now took up that Emperor’s motto, Fiat iustitia, pereat mundus.

Their foot shall slide in due time.] "They are set in slippery places"; {Psa 73:18} they ever walk as upon a mine of gunpowder ready to be blown up: Nemo crimen gerit in pectore, qui non idem Nemesin in tergo. Nemesis dicitur Aδραστεια, quod ουκ αν τις αυτην αποδρασαιτο. God’s wrath is such, as none can avert or avoid.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu_32:35

Their foot shall slide in due time.

The awakening of sinners

This is the culmination of the most dreadful denunciation of sinners to be found in the Bible.

I. The insecurity of the sinner.

A sense of sin and impending punishment is ever present in mans heart. Heathen nations of the old and of the new world recognised it, and established forms of religious worship in order to avoid it, But the Bible makes assurance doubly sure, and issues solemn warnings of the fact.

II. The certainty of the result. Human life knows no such thing as remaining in one place. Man is ever going forward or backward--which depends upon himself. Men shut their eyes and fancy themselves secure, None plunge headlong into the extremities of sin at once. Nearly everyone can recollect the first falsehood, the first profane word, the first dishonest act, after they have reached depths of depravity of which they never dreamed. They took the devil for their master, and he presses them hard at every turn. The down-slide is governed by an inexorable law.

III. Consider where they are sliding. Away from virtue, away from peace, away from good company, away from God! Men watch the downward progress of the drunkard with pity and disgust. The wilful wrecking of all that is noble in man seems incomprehensible. (J. O. Peck, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 32:35. To me belongeth vengeance — As the supreme Lord and Judge of the world, whose power no force can resist, from whose knowledge no secret can be concealed, and from whose justice no art can escape. Their feet shall slide — Though they think themselves immoveably fixed in their power and prosperity, they shall certainly be visited with national judgments, and overthrown. In due time — Though not so soon as some may expect, yet in that time when it shall be thought most proper, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. At hand — Hebrew, is near. So the Scripture often speaks of those things which are at many hundred years’ distance, to signify, that though they may be afar off as to our measures of time, yet in God’s account they are near, they are as near as may be; when the measure of their sins is once full, the judgment shall not be deferred.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 35. Their foot shall slide in due time, &c.] But Calmet thinks that this verse is spoken against the Canaanites, the enemies of the Jewish people.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(35) To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence.—In the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb_10:30) this sentence is quoted with the first clause of Deu_32:36, “For we know Him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord.” And so in Rom_12:19.

Their foot shall slide in due time.—Rather, for the time when their foot shall slide.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. Mine are vengeance, etc.] Sam. and LXX read for the day of vengeance, etc.; and perhaps rightly, see Ginsburg, Intr. p. 168. Here intended as an assurance to Israel, but in Rom_12:19 as a warning against undertaking revenge oneself, cp. Heb_10:30.

day of their disaster] Jer_18:17; Jer_46:21, Oba_1:13, Psa_18:18 (19).

things destined for them] A late expression.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the Lord shall judge his people,.... The true church and members of it, in opposition to the false and apostate church; his chosen and covenant people, whom he gave to Christ, and who are redeemed by his blood, and effectually called by his grace; the people he shall call out of Babylon, or preserve from the corruptions of it before its fall; and who are the objects of his love and delight; a distinct, peculiar, and special people, near unto him, and all righteous: these he will judge at this time, distinguish between them and the followers of antichrist; he will take their cause in hand, and plead it, and do justice to them; he will right their wrongs and injuries, and take vengeance on their enemies; he will protect and defend them, reign and rule over them. Now will be the time, when the witnesses slain are raised, that he will take to himself his great power and reign, and the time of the dead when they will be judged, and a reward given to his servants and prophets, to his saints, and all that fear his name; and when he will destroy them that have destroyed the earth, Rev 11:17; so the Targum of Jonathan interprets this of the word of the Lord that shall judge his people in mercy:

and repent himself for his servants; by whom are meant not only the ministers of the Gospel, his witnesses that prophesy in sackcloth, and who will be slain when they have finished their testimony; but all that are effectually called by grace, who though they have been the servants of sin, and the vassals of Satan, yet by the grace of God become the servants of God and of righteousness; dislike and cast off their old masters; readily, willingly, and cheerfully, take upon them the yoke of Christ, and freely obey him, constrained by his love, and influenced by views of interest in him: and so serve him without any selfish views, owning that, when they have done all they can, they are but unprofitable servants: now for or on account of these he will repent himself, because of the evils he has suffered to come upon them, being moved with pity, and compassion to them in their miserable circumstances, as they will be in when the witnesses his servants will be slain; not that, properly speaking, repentance is in God; he never changes his mind, counsel, and purposes; he never alters his love, his choice, nor his covenant; or repents of his gifts, and calling of special grace; though he is sometimes said to repent of outward good things he has bestowed, or promised to bestow conditionality; and of evils he has threatened or inflicted; yet this is only to be understood of a change of his outward dealings and dispensations with men, according to his changeable will; and this will be the case now with respect to his servants, whom he will have suffered to be slain, and lie unburied; but repenting or changing his manner of conduct to them will revive them, and cause them to ascend to heaven; see Rev 11:11,

when he seeth that their power is gone; not the hand and power of the enemy, going and prevailing over them, and strong upon them, as the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi; but rather the hand and power of the righteous, as the Targum of Jerusalem; and respects not their internal power and strength, which they have not in themselves, but in Christ; though the exertion of that power, and the exercise of their graces, as faith, and hope, and love, will be greatly declined; but their external power, and protection which they had from Protestant princes; they being removed, and others not like them succeeding, or apostatizing to the church of Rome: the outward court or national establishments are a fence and protection to the inward court worshippers, or servants of God; when that shall be given to the Gentiles, the Papists, as it will, Rev 11:2; the power or hand, the protecting sheltering hand of the saints, will be gone, and they will become a prey to their adversaries:

and there is none shut up or left; a phrase used to express the miserable state and condition of a people, when none are left, but all are carried off, or cut off, and destroyed, and there is none to help them; see Kg1 14:10; when there are none shut up in garrisons, and left there to defend a people; or there are none shut up in prison, or any left to till the ground; which is sometimes the case when a nation is conquered, and the greater part are carried captives; but it denotes such a general destruction, that there are none remaining any where, and thus it will be at the slaying of the witnesses. This passage has respect to their dead bodies, which will not be shut up in graves, nor any left to bury them, Rev 11:9. There will scarcely be a professor of religion, or any that will appear to favour the witnesses slain in any respect; there will be"none to support and uphold,''as the Targum of Jerusalem; not to support and uphold the true religion, or to help the people of God in these their distresses: and when the Lord shall see all this, he will look upon them with an eye of pity and compassion; he will repent for his servants, according to the multitude of his tender mercies; and will plead their cause, and judge them, and will put on the garments of vengeance, and repay fury and recompense to his and their enemies, Isa 59:15; who will insultingly say as follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Time. Men are eager to punish their enemies, for fear lest they should escape. But God defers his chastisements frequently in this world, designing to make his enemies feel the weight of his indignation for all eternity. How consoling it is for the just, to think they have God for an avenger! "If thou, says Tertullian, remit the injury, which thou hast received, into his hands, he is the avenger....How much ought patience to endure, in order to make God a debtor." Adeo satisidoneus patientiæ sequester Deus. --- That. Septuagint, "when" (Calmet) they shall fall and come to ruin. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It is my office to punish sin, and therefore as I know their sins, so I will assuredly punish them. Their feet shall slide; they who now think they stand fast and unmovable, they shall fall into utter destruction.

In due time; though not so soon as some may expect it, yet in that time when it shall be most proper and seasonable, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. This due time may be the same with that fulness of time, Gal 4:4, when Christ came into the world, whom this people by wicked hands crucified and slew, Act 2:23, for which wrath came upon them to the uttermost, 1Th 2:15,16.

Is at hand, Heb. is near. So the Scripture oft speaks of those things which are at many hundred years’ distance, to meet with objections arising in men’s minds from the delays of them, and to signify, that though they may be afar off as to our measures of time and expectation of the things, yet in God’s account they are near, they are as near as may be; as soon as ever the fit and the full time is come, they come instantly, they are nearer than sinners would have them; when the measure of their sins is once full, the judgment shall not be deferred.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

35. To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time — More literally, vengeance and retribution is mine when their foot shall shake. “The shaking of the foot is a figure representing the commencement of a fall or of stumbling.” — Keil. Comp. Psa_38:16; Psa_94:18. The first part of this verse is quoted in Rom_12:19, and Heb_10:30. It is to be impressed upon the nation that when disasters come to them they are not fortuitous, but inflicted by Jehovah as the punishment for their sins.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Render: Vengeance is mine, and retribution for the time when their feet shall totter; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and that which is prepared for them maketh haste. The tottering of the feet represents the incipient fall. God would manifest himself as the Avenger when their calamity began to come upon them.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Their feet shall slide - They who now think they stand fast and unmoveable, shall fall into utter destruction. In due time - Though not so soon as some may expect, yet in that time when it shall be most proper, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. At hand - Hebrew. is near. So the scripture often speaks of those things which are at many hundred years distance, to signify, that though they may be afar off as to our measures of time, yet in God's account they are near, they are as near as may be, when the measure of their sins is once full, the judgment shall not be deferred.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses speaks a poetic song to the people of Israel. This is the end of Moses's quotation of Yahweh's words that begins in Deuteronomy 32:20. (See: Parallelism)

Vengeance is mine to give, and recompense

The words "vengeance" and "recompense" mean basically the same thing. AT: "I will have vengeance and punish Israel's enemies" (See: Doublet)

recompense

to punish or reward a person for what he has done

their foot slips

Something bad has happened to them. AT: "they are helpless" (See: Idiom)

the day of disaster for them

"the time for me to destroy them"

the things that are to come on them will hurry to happen

Yahweh speaks of the bad things that will happen to his enemies as if the bad things were people running eagerly to punish them. AT: "I will punish them quickly" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

avenge

time

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לי נקם ושלם means, with Me is prepared and held in readiness the punishment of vengeance, and it will recompense them according to their doings. As regards the word ושלם, it means that vengeance will pay them their recompense (וְשִׁלַּם is therefore a verb with the Vau conversive, the subject being the noun נקם which precedes it). — But some explain the word וְשִׁלַּם as a noun, having the same meaning as שִׁלּוּם “recompense”, when it would be of the same grammatical form as the noun in the phrase (Jeremiah 5:13) “And the דִּבֵּר is not in them”, where it has the meaning of דִּבּוּר, “Divine utterance”. And when will I recompense them?

לעת תמוט רגלם AT THE TIME WHEN THEIR FOOT SHALL TOTTER — i.e. when the merit of their ancestors upon which they are relying (which is, as it were, their foot, their support) will become exhausted.

כי קרוב יום אידם FOR THE DAY OF THEIR CALAMITY IS AT HAND — i.e. as soon as I shall desire to bring about the day of their calamity, it will be near at hand and held in readiness by Me — that I may bring it by any of the many agencies I have.

וחש עתדת למו means, AND THE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME (עתידות) UPON THEM WILL COME QUICKLY (חש).

וחש — The word חש has the same meaning as the verb in (Isaiah V. 19) “Let him make speed and hasten (יחישה)”. — So far Moses exhorted them with words of reproof, so that this song should be witness against them, i.e., that when the punishment would come upon them they would know (acknowledge) that I told them about this from the very beginning. From here onwards he exhorted them with a statement of the comfort that would come upon them when their punishment would have ended; this being similar to all that is stated above (30:1—2) “And it shall come to pass when [all these things] are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, … then the Lord thy God will turn they captivity, etc.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

VENGEANCE IS MINE, AND RECOMPENSE. [To Me belongs vengeance] to avenge the cause of Israel from their hands, and Mine is the recompense to pay them according to their deeds for having repudiated Me. AGAINST THE TIME WHEN THEIR FOOT SHALL SLIP — when their measure [of sin] will be full, as it is stated, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that “the meaning thereof is [in line with the verse], yea, even the wicked for the day of evil, this constituting a great secret.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.