4“Moses charged us with a law,
         A possession for the assembly of Jacob.

5“And He was king in Jeshurun,
         When the heads of the people were gathered,
         The tribes of Israel together.

6“May Reuben live and not die,
         Nor his men be few.”

      7And this regarding Judah; so he said,
         “Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah,
         And bring him to his people.
         With his hands he contended for them,
         And may You be a help against his adversaries.”

      8Of Levi he said,
         “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man,
         Whom You proved at Massah,
         With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;

9Who said of his father and his mother,
         ‘I did not consider them’;
         And he did not acknowledge his brothers,
         Nor did he regard his own sons,
         For they observed Your word,
         And kept Your covenant.

10“They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
         And Your law to Israel.
         They shall put incense before You,
         And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

11“O LORD, bless his substance,
         And accept the work of his hands;
         Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,
         And those who hate him, so that they will not rise again.”

      12Of Benjamin he said,
         “May the beloved of the LORD dwell in security by Him,
         Who shields him all the day,
         And he dwells between His shoulders.”

      13Of Joseph he said,
         “Blessed of the LORD be his land,
         With the choice things of heaven, with the dew,
         And from the deep lying beneath,

14And with the choice yield of the sun,
         And with the choice produce of the months.

15“And with the best things of the ancient mountains,
         And with the choice things of the everlasting hills,

16And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
         And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
         Let it come to the head of Joseph,
         And to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

17“As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his,
         And his horns are the horns of the wild ox;
         With them he will push the peoples,
         All at once, to the ends of the earth.
         And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
         And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

      18Of Zebulun he said,
         “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth,
         And, Issachar, in your tents.

19“They will call peoples to the mountain;
         There they will offer righteous sacrifices;
         For they will draw out the abundance of the seas,
         And the hidden treasures of the sand.”

      20Of Gad he said,
         “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad;
         He lies down as a lion,
         And tears the arm, also the crown of the head.

21“Then he provided the first part for himself,
         For there the ruler’s portion was reserved;
         And he came with the leaders of the people;
         He executed the justice of the LORD,
         And His ordinances with Israel.”

      22Of Dan he said,
         “Dan is a lion’s whelp,
         That leaps forth from Bashan.”

      23Of Naphtali he said,
         “O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
         And full of the blessing of the LORD,
         Take possession of the sea and the south.”

      24Of Asher he said,
         “More blessed than sons is Asher;
         May he be favored by his brothers,
         And may he dip his foot in oil.

25“Your locks will be iron and bronze,
         And according to your days, so will your leisurely walk be.

26“There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
         Who rides the heavens to your help,
         And through the skies in His majesty.

27“The eternal God is a dwelling place,
         And underneath are the everlasting arms;
         And He drove out the enemy from before you,
         And said, ‘Destroy!’

28“So Israel dwells in security,
         The fountain of Jacob secluded,
         In a land of grain and new wine;
         His heavens also drop down dew.

29“Blessed are you, O Israel;
         Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,
         Who is the shield of your help
         And the sword of your majesty!
         So your enemies will cringe before you,
         And you will tread upon their high places.”

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Moses commanded us a law, An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob.

Darby Bible Translation
Moses commanded us a law, The inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

English Revised Version
Moses commanded us a law, An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

Webster's Bible Translation
Moses commanded us a law; even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

World English Bible
Moses commanded us a law, An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

Young's Literal Translation
A law hath Moses commanded us, A possession of the assembly of Jacob.Israel the Beloved
'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 12. Benjamin was his father's favourite child, and the imagery of this promise is throughout drawn from the relations between such a child and its father. So far as the future history of the tribes is shadowed in these 'blessings' of this great ode, the reference of the text may be to the tribe of Benjamin, as specially distinguished by Saul …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Shod for the Road
'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.' DEUT. xxxiii. 25. There is a general correspondence between those blessings wherewith Moses blessed the tribes of Israel before his death, and the circumstances and territory of each tribe in the promised land. The portion of Asher, in whose blessing the words of our text occurs, was partly the rocky northern coast and partly the fertile lands stretching to the base of the Lebanon. In the inland part of their territory …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God and his Saints
'He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.'--DEUT. xxxiii. 3. The great ode of which these words are a part is called 'the blessing wherewith Moses blessed the children of Israel before his death.' It is mainly an invocation of blessing from Heaven on the various tribes, but it begins, as the national existence of Israel began, with the revelation of God on Sinai, and it lays that as the foundation of everything. It …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Shoes of Iron, and Strength Sufficient: a New Year's Promise
"And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be."--Deuteronomy 33:24-25. I once heard an old minister say that he thought the blessing of Asher was peculiarly the blessing of ministers; and his eyes twinkled as he added, "At any rate, they are usually blessed with children, and it is a great blessing for them if they are acceptable to their …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889

"As Thy Days, So Shall Thy Strength Be"
In addressing you this morning, I shall first have to notice the self-weakness which is implied in our text; secondly, I shall come to the great promise of the text; and then I shall try and draw one or two inferences from it, ere I conclude. I. First, the SELF-WEAKNESS HINTED AT IN THE TEXT. To keep to my figure, if this promise be like a star, you know there is no seeing the stars in the daytime when we stand here upon the upper land; we must go down a deep well, and then we shall be able to discover …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

2D Day. Needful Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."--DEUT. xxxiii. 25. Needful Grace. God does not give grace till the hour of trial comes. But when it does come, the amount of grace, and the nature of the special grace required is vouchsafed. My soul, do not dwell with painful apprehension on the future. Do not anticipate coming sorrows; perplexing thyself with the grace needed for future emergencies; to-morrow will bring its promised grace along with to-morrow's trials. …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Within what Tribe the Lake of Gennesaret Was.
By comparing the maps with the Talmudic writers, this question ariseth: for there is not one among them, as far as I know, which does not altogether define the sea of Gennesaret to be without the tribe of Naphthali; but the Talmudists do most plainly place it within. "The Rabbins deliver: The sea of Tiberias is in the portion of Naphtali; yea, it takes a full line for the nets on the south side of it: as it is said, 'Possess the sea and the south,' Deuteronomy 33:23." The Gloss is; "(Naphtali) had …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

1872 the Need of a Home Further West --Burning of the Marchmont Home --Home Restored by Canadian Gifts --Miss Macpherson and Miss Reavell Arrive in Canada
The need of a Home further West--Burning of the Marchmont Home--Home restored by Canadian gifts--Miss Macpherson and Miss Reavell arrive in Canada--First visit to Knowlton in the East--Belleville Home restored by Canadian friends--Help for the Galt Home--Miss Macpherson returns to England--Miss Reavell remains at Galt. In her first letter on returning to England Miss Macpherson writes:-- "BELOVED FELLOW-WORKERS,--Once more at home among the old familiar scenes in the East of London, the sadness …
Clara M. S. Lowe—God's Answers

Second Part
Aphrahat the Persian Sage. 1. Name of Author of Demonstrations long Unknown.--The author of the Demonstrations, eight of which appear (for the first time in an English version) in the present volume, has a singular literary history. By nationality a Persian, in an age when Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persia, he wrote in Syriac as a Christian theologian. His writings, now known to us as the works of Aphrahat, were remembered, cited, translated, and transcribed for at least two centuries …
Ephraim the Syrian—Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian

With Israel's God who Can Compare?
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns

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