Deuteronomy 32:43

הרנינו גוים עמו SING ALOUD, O YE NATIONS, OF HIS PEOPLE — At that time (when I shall take vengeance on them) the nations will praise Israel (Sifrei Devarim 333:2): “See, how praiseworthy is this people, — that they have cleaved to the Holy One, blessed be He, amidst all the troubles which have passed over them, and have not forsaken Him, for they had constantly experienced His goodness and His excellence”. כי דם עבדיו יקם FOR HE WILL AVENGE THE BLOOD OF HIS SERVANTS — i.e., the shedding of their blood, as the phrase usually implies. ונקם ישיב לצריו AND HE WILL RENDER VENGEANCE TO HIS ADVERSARIES for their robbery and their violence, just as it is stated, (Joel 4:19) “Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah …”, and it states in another passage (Obadiah 10) “For the violence against thy brother Jacob [shame shall cover thee]” (cf. Sifrei Devarim 333:3). וכפר אדמתו עמו means, and He will appease His land and His people for the miseries that have passed over them and for that which the enemy has caused them. וכפר is an expression denoting appeasing and calming, as e.g. (Genesis 32:21) אכפרה פניו which is rendered in the Targum by “I will appease his anger” (cf. Rashi on that verse). וכפר אדמתו AND HE WILL PROPITIATE HIS LAND — and what is His land? עמו HIS PEOPLE — when His people receives comfort His land, too, receives comfort, and so, too, it states, (Psalms 85:2) “Thou hast been favourable, O Lord, unto Thy land” — whereby hast Thou been favourable unto Thy land? The words that follow in the text give the answer: “Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob” (Thy people). — In a different manner is it (the section from v. 26 onwards) expounded in Sifrei, and there is a difference of opinion regarding it between R. Judah and R. Nehemiah. R. Judah expounds the whole of it as having reference to Israel, whilst R. Nehemiah refers the whole of it as referring to the other nations (Sifrei Devarim 327). R. Judah explains it as referring to Israel as follows: (26) אמרתי אפאיהם in the same manner as I have explained it, up to (27) כי גוי אבד עצות המה (28) .ולא ה' פעל כל זאת FOR THEY ARE A NATION LOSING COUNSEL, i.e., they have lost My Torah, which was a fitting counsel for them, ואין בהם תבונה AND THERE IS NO UNDERSTANDING IN THEM to consider,# (30) איכה ירדף אחד HOW ONE MAN of the nations COULD PURSUE אלף A THOUSAND of them, אם לא כי צורם מכרם EXCEPT THAT THEIR ROCK HAD DELIVERED THEM into their power.# (31) כי לא כצורנו צורם — all as I have explained, right up to the end. — R. Nehemiah expounds it as referring to the other nations as follows: (28) כי גוי אבד עצות המה — This he explains as I have explained it at first up to (31): ואיבינו פלילים — (‎32) כי מגפן סדם גפנם FOR AS THE VINE OF SODOM IS THEIR VINE — i.e. the vine of the other nations. ומשדמת עמרה AND OF THE FIELDS OF GOMORRAH etc., — and they do not set their mind to attribute the greatness to Me. ענבמו ענבי רוש THEIR GRAPES ARE GRAPES OF GALL — This is what it stated above לולא כעס אויב אגור WERE IT NOT THAT THE ANGER OF THE ENEMY IS HEAPED UP against Israel to destroy them (cf. Rashi’s explanation of אגור above) — so, too, here: "their grapes are grapes of gall”, to make them (the Israelites) reel and to embitter their lives, and therefore אשכלות מררות למו BITTER CLUSTERS ARE FOR THEM to make them swallow them for what they have done to My children. (33) חמת תנינם יינם WINE OF DRAGONS IS THEIR WINE — i.e., the wine prepared to give them to drink for what they have done to them (יינם “their wine” is not the wine which they prepare, but that which is prepared for them). (34) כמס עמדי IS IT NOT LAID WITH ME — “it” means that cup (which is implied in the word יינם, “the wine prepared for them”), as it states. (Psalms 75:9) “For in the hand of the Lord is a cup … [and the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall drink them]”. (35) לעת תמוט רגלם AT THE TIME THEIR FOOT (i.e., of the enemies) SHALL TOTTER — this is similar to what is said, (Isaiah 26:6) “The foot shall tread it down”. (36) כי ידין ה׳ עמו — In this explanation, in the phrase כי ידין the word כי is used in the meaning of “because” (not as in the former explanation where it means “when”), and ידין is not an expression for sufferings (the meaning it was given above) but it means as much as: For He (God) will plead their cause (take their parts) against the power of their oppressors, כי יראה כי אזלת יד וגו׳, when He sees that the hand of the enemy waxes mighty, etc. (37) ואמר אי אלהימו AND HE SAYS WHERE IS THEIR GOD — i.e., when the enemy (cf. this with Rashi’s previous explanation) will say, “Where is the God of Israel?” — even as Titus, the wicked, asked, when he pierced the curtain of the Holy of Holies (cf. Gittin 56b), just as it is said, (Micah 7:10) “Then my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto Me, Where is the Lord, thy God?” (39) ראו עתה כי אני וגו׳ means, then the Lord will display His saving power and will say, SEE NOW, THAT IT IS I, EVEN I — from Me came the evil upon them (the Israelites) and from Me will good come upon them. ואין מידי מציל AND THERE IS NONE THAT CAN DELIVER OUT OF MY HAND — i.e. that can deliver you (the nations) from the evil which I shall now bring upon you. (40) כי אשא אל שמים ידי — The first two words (continuing this exposition) are as much as כי נשאתי, “Because I have lifted up”, and the text means: everlasting I made the heaven the dwelling-place of My Glory, — as the Targum takes it (“For I have established in heaven the place of My Divine Glory”) — therefore there will surely be none that can deliver you, for even when the weak person is above and the strong below, the fear of him that is above lies upon him that is below; how much more is this so when “I”, the strong, am above and you, the weak, are below. — ידי means the place of My Divine Glory, as (Numbers 2:17) “every man by his place (ידו)”, — therefore I had the power to punish you immediately, but I said that I shall live forever, therefore I need not hasten to exact punishment, because I have time for this matter: I live for ever and in later generations can punish them, for I have the power to exact punishment both from the living and the dead. A human king who is always going to die (may die at any moment), takes quick vengeance to punish during his lifetime, because either he or his enemy may die with the result that he would never exact his vengeance from him; but I live for ever, and if they (My enemies) should die and I shall not have exacted punishment from them during their lifetime, I can exact it when they are dead. (41) אם שנותי ברק חרבי — There are many instances where the particle אם is not used conditionally (i.e., it does not signify “if”). Here, also: when I shall whet ברק חרבי MY GLITTERING SWORD AND MY HAND SHALL HOLD FAST ON JUSTICE, etc., etc., all as I have explained above.

הַרְנִ֤ינוּ גוֹיִם֙ עַמּ֔וֹ        כִּ֥י דַם־עֲבָדָ֖יו יִקּ֑וֹם וְנָקָם֙ יָשִׁ֣יב לְצָרָ֔יו        וְכִפֶּ֥ר אַדְמָת֖וֹ עַמּֽוֹ׃ {פ}

Rejoice, O nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries and will forgive his land, and his people.