Deut 32:26 I Would Have Said 'I Will Scatter Them' - 11-04-2025 - Initial Draft Podcast

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Transcript

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Welcome to the InAllWisdom Podcast,
A daily podcast dedicated to wisdom for life.
I am Jim Donnelly, your host.
 
The title of today’s podcast is: 
I Would Have Said I Will Scatter Them

What does it mean for Yahweh to will something, but not do it? 

Stay tuned; we are about to learn that Yahweh fears something.  


For each podcast about the song of Moses, I will read a single stanza or two. 
Which is like a paragraph, sometimes short, sometimes long.

Each stanza, or paragraph, contains strophes. Strophes are like turns of thought, or twists in conversation.  

These turns and twists of thought provide my podcast titles.   

Reading a whole paragraph of poetry, long or short, will help many readers who may know nothing about this song.  
And others who know some things will better understand this song. And see how a simple song communicates so much, so clearly. 

Further, I will read from the Legacy Standard Bible in every podcast.

A little personal history here. 

 I have been reading and studying the New American Standard Bible since 1972. However, in the past year, 2025, someone introduced me to the Legacy Standard Bible.

I learned that “In the history of English Bible translations, the King James Version is the most well-known. The time-honored version of 1611, itself a revision of the Bishops’ Bible of 1568, became the basis for the English Revised Version, which appeared in 1881 (New Testament) and 1885 (Old Testament). Its American counterpart, a product of both British and American scholarship, was published in 1901. Recognizing the values of the American Standard Version, The Lockman Foundation felt an urgency to preserve the ASV [Authorized Standard Version] while incorporating recent discoveries of Hebrew and Greek textual sources and rendering it into more current English. This resulted in the New American Standard Bible, a translation based upon the time-honored principles of translation of the ASV and KJV, along with other linguistic tools and biblical scholarship.

The Legacy Standard Bible reflects another iteration of such preservation and refinement. Worked on by a core translation team in conjunction with pastors and educators from different countries, it is designed to honor, maintain, and advance the tradition represented by the NASB. 

In the LSB, God’s covenant name is rendered as Yahweh. The meaning and implication of this name is God’s self-deriving, ongoing, and never-ending existence. Exodus 3:14–15 shows that God Himself considered it important for His people to know His name. The effect of revealing God’s name is His distinction from other gods and His expression of intimacy with the nation of Israel. Such a dynamic is a prevalent characteristic of the Scriptures as Yahweh appears in the OT over 6,800 times. ” 

The Importance of Reading Consistently From a Single English Version

This consistent reading from a single English version of the Hebrew Bible will help us hear and better understand one of the longest songs in the Bible.  

Reading this song weekly, again and again, should bring the reader to a knowledge and understanding of what God has already done, is doing now, and will continue to do, until He returns on the clouds of the sky.

Let’s continue to learn some things about the song of Moses 

Allow me to read Stanza Eight, Deuteronomy 32:26-35


Today, November 4, 2025, I am reading from the Legacy Standard Bible, 2022  

Deuteronomy Chapter 32, verses 26 to 35:

26 ‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces; 
I will cause the memory of them to cease from men,” 
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, 
Lest their adversaries misjudge, 
Lest they say, “Our hand is triumphant, 
And Yahweh has not done all this.” ’ 
28 “For they are a nation where counsel perishes, 
And there is no discernment in them. 
29 “Would that they were wise, that they had insight into this, 
That they would understand their future! 
30 “How could one pursue one thousand, 
And two put ten thousand to flight, 
Unless their Rock had sold them, 
And Yahweh had handed them over? 
31 “Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, 
Even our enemies themselves judge this. 
32 “For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, 
And from the fields of Gomorrah; 
Their grapes are grapes of poison, 
Their clusters, bitter. 
33 “Their wine is the venom of serpents, 
And the deadly poison of cobras. 
34 ‘Is it not laid up in store with Me, 
Sealed up in My treasuries? 
35 ‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, 
In due time their foot will stumble; 
For the day of their disaster is near, 
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’ 

Legacy Standard Bible (Dt 32:26–35). (2022). 


Deuteronomy 32:26-35, Stanza Eight, contains five strophes (17, 18, 19, 20, 21):    

32:26-27      - Thought 17 - Yahweh would have said, “I will scatter them …”  
32:28-29    - Thought 18 - For they are a nation lacking counsel  
32:30-31    - Thought 19 - How could one pursue a thousand …  
32:32-33    - Thought 20 - For their vine is from the vine of Sodom …   
32:34-35    - Thought 21 - Is it not laid up in store for Me … 


Today’s podcast titled:
I Would Have Said I Will Scatter Them
This statement by Yahweh comes at the very beginning of strophe (thought) 17:
26 ‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces; 
I will cause the memory of them to cease from men,” 
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, 
Lest their adversaries misjudge, 
Lest they say, “Our hand is triumphant, 
And Yahweh has not done all this.” ’ 

“I would have said” - Deuteronomy 32:26a

אָמַ֖רְתִּי 

ʾamartī ʾapʾē=him*

“I would have said.” Implies a turning away from a plan ready to be executed. 
The poetic counterpart: “Lest they say” provides the reason for Yahweh not following through with his intent. 

“ I will scatter them” - Deuteronomy 32:26b
אַפְאֵיהֶ֑ם
ʾapʾē=him



How do we get from “I will cut them to pieces” to “I will scatter them?”

First, this from the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament: “the Biblical Hebrew … ‘cut in pieces’ (Dt. 32;26, text uncertain). 

Second, the above dictionary continues to define פֵאָה pēʾâ  this way: “3. Boundary. In lists pēʾâ serves as a synonym of geḇûl, “border,” qualified by a direction. Josh. 18:12–20 defines the borders of Benjamin, 15:5 the eastern border of Judah. The list in Ezk. 47:15–20 defines the boundaries of the whole territory of the twelve tribes outside the sanctuary. Ezekiel’s so-called draft constitution sketches a map of the new Israel. In similar fashion Nu. 34:3 defines the southern boundary in the description of the boundaries of Israel’s inheritance (Nu. 34:3–12) in the promised land. ” 

Also, the Legacy Standard Bible provides these three references, containing a Hebrew synonym: 
1. “And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations where Yahweh drives you. “(Deut 4:27, LSB).

2. “Moreover, Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.” (Deut 28:64, LS B). 

3. ‘You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.” (Lev 26:33, LSB).

For now, please ponder the above definition of “scatter” and the references. 

I will add to this podcast next week.

We have come to the end of today’s InAllWisdom Podcast. 
A daily podcast dedicated to wisdom for life. 

Thank you for listening! 

Please join me again for another interesting episode of Wisdom for Life.

Until he comes on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory, 
may
“Yahweh bless you, and keep you;
Yahweh make His face shine on you, 
And be gracious to you; 
Yahweh lift up His face on you, 
And give you peace.’”  

 Legacy Standard Bible (The Book of Numbers, 6:24–27, LSB).