The Meaning of Deuteronomy 32:5 Explained

Deuteronomy 32:5

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

YLT: It hath done corruptly to Him; Their blemish is not His sons', A generation perverse and crooked!

Darby: They have dealt corruptly with him; Not his children's is their spot: A crooked and perverted generation!

ASV: They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish; They are a perverse and crooked generation.

What is the context of Deuteronomy 32:5?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Deuteronomy 32:5 Mean?

Context Summary

Deuteronomy 32:1-14 - Moses' Song: The Lord's Favor Upon Israel
The song of Moses, like the fabled song of the swan, was his last and sweetest. It is probably the noblest ode in the whole compass of the Bible, and is the source from which subsequent singers derived suggestions for their noblest outbursts. The marginal references prove how deeply it dyed the national sentiment.
It excels in the names and designations of the Almighty. He is the Rock: Deuteronomy 31:4; Deuteronomy 31:15; Deuteronomy 31:18; Deuteronomy 31:30; Jehovah: Deuteronomy 31:6; Father: Deuteronomy 31:6; the Most High: Deuteronomy 31:8; God: El, the strong, Deuteronomy 31:15, etc. What a study are the names of God, scattered through the Bible! Each was coined to meet some need of the human soul. What the rocks of the desert are to its shifting sands God is amid the changes of this mortal existence.
This earlier part of the song is very tender. We are God's portion; the apple of His eye; as young eaglets, whom the mother-bird is carefully teaching to fly, the favored recipients of God's richest gifts, Deuteronomy 31:13, etc. [source]

Chapter Summary: Deuteronomy 32

1  Moses' song, which sets forth God's mercy and vengeance
46  He exhorts them to set their hearts upon it
48  God sends him up to mount Nebo to see the land, and to die

What do the individual words in Deuteronomy 32:5 mean?

They have corrupted themselves not [They are] His children because of their blemish a generation perverse and crooked
שִׁחֵ֥ת ל֛וֹ לֹ֖א בָּנָ֣יו מוּמָ֑ם דּ֥וֹר עִקֵּ֖שׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּֽל

שִׁחֵ֥ת  They  have  corrupted 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: שָׁחַת  
Sense: to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay.
ל֛וֹ  themselves 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
בָּנָ֣יו  [They  are]  His  children 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
מוּמָ֑ם  because  of  their  blemish 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: מְאוּם 
Sense: blemish, spot, defect.
דּ֥וֹר  a  generation 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: דֹּור 
Sense: period, generation, habitation, dwelling.
עִקֵּ֖שׁ  perverse 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: עִקֵּשׁ  
Sense: twisted, distorted, crooked, perverse, perverted.
וּפְתַלְתֹּֽל  and  crooked 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: פְּתַלְתֹּל  
Sense: twisted, tortuous.