Faith Daily Lectio Friday, October 30, 2026 Old Testament

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Friday, October 30, 2026 · Friday in the week of the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25)

Old Testament

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:27

Aged Moses lifts his arms in song before the assembly of Israel beneath a great golden rock where an eagle hovers over its nest.

Oratio (prayer)

Lord God, You are the Rock, and Your work is perfect. Send Your Holy Spirit as I read the Song of Moses, that Your Word may fall on me like gentle rain and draw me back to You in Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Meditatio (meditation)

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:27

30And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

1Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

Consider even rereading in another translation.

Other translations: NIV · ESV

You could also consider listening to these chapters, narrated:

You might read the whole reading slowly, aloud, more than once.

Consider this verse, for example:

“Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:9)

What other lines speak to you?

Moses speaks the words of a song in the ears of all Israel. He calls heaven and earth to listen. He praises the LORD as the Rock, perfect and just. He reminds Israel how God found them in a wilderness, kept them close, and carried them as an eagle bears her young. Then the song turns. Fed and full, Jeshurun grew fat and forsook God. They provoked Him with strange gods, and He speaks of hiding His face and sending judgment, yet He holds back so the enemy will not boast.

The Law Blessing can make us forgetful: "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked" (32:15). Israel "lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation" (32:15). Moses grieves, "Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee" (32:18). The warning is fearful: "a fire is kindled in mine anger" (32:22). We, too, forget the Giver when our hands are full.

The Gospel Yet the same song tells how God first loved His people: "he kept him as the apple of his eye" (32:10). "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings" (32:11), so the LORD carries His own. Moses calls Him "thy father that hath bought thee" (32:6). In Jesus Christ, the Rock that was struck for us, God bought you back with His own blood. His "work is perfect" (32:4), and His mercy holds you still.

Prayer Lord God, I confess that I have forgotten You in times of plenty and trusted in other things. Forgive me for Jesus' sake. Carry me again on Your wings, and keep me as the apple of Your eye. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Tentatio (trial)

When life feels like a desert, it can seem that God is far off. Under trial it may help to remember where He found His people: "in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness" (32:10). There He led them, instructed them, and kept them. The wilderness is where He carries His own.

Prayer Lord, when I am in a dry and lonely place, lead me and instruct me. Bear me up, and do not let me go. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.

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