Deuteronomy 32:21

They have made me jealous ¹  with false gods, ²  enraging me with their worthless gods; ³  so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ⁴  with a nation slow to learn ⁵  I will enrage them.

De 32:16; 1Sa 12:21; 1Ki 16:13,26; Ps 31:6; Ps 78:58; Jer 8:19; Jer 10:8; Jer 14:22; Ho 1:10; Jon 2:8; Ac 11:15; Ro 9:25; Ro 10:19; Ro 11:11-14; 1Pe 2:9,10

¹ sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.

² tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”

³ tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).

⁴ tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).

⁵ tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”