He 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
- BSB He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
- NKJV He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
- NASB “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and just is He.
- NLT He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God is called the Rock whose work is perfect, all His ways just, faithful and without wrong. It matters because it establishes God's flawless righteousness as the standard against which Israel's sin is measured.
Overview
This towering description of God as the Rock, perfect, just, faithful, and upright, anchors the entire Song. God's unwavering integrity stands in stark contrast to the corruption of His people described next. The title 'Rock' recurs throughout the chapter and is applied in the New Testament to Christ, the steadfast foundation of salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 40
- Ps 18:30–31As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
- Ps 92:15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
- Isa 26:4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
- 2 Sam 22:31–32As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
- Dan 4:37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Ps 18:2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
- Rev 15:3–4And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
- Matt 5:48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- Deut 32:30–31How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
- Ps 100:5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
- Jas 1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
- 1 Cor 10:4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
- 2 Sam 22:2–3And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
- Gen 18:25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- Jer 9:24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
- John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
- Rom 2:2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
- John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- Rom 3:5But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
- Isa 25:1O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
- Deut 32:18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
- 1 Pet 2:6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
- John 5:22For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
- Deut 32:15But 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.
- Job 34:10Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
- Isa 28:16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
- Hab 1:13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
- Isa 32:2And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
- Ps 146:6Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
- Jer 10:10But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
- Ps 99:4The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
- Jas 4:12There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
- 1 Sam 2:2There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
- John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
- Ps 138:8The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Job 35:14Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
- Ps 18:46The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
- Ps 98:3He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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