Deuteronomy 32:5

The beloved children have corrupted their good works, a blemish is found upon them; a perverse generation which have altered their works; so shall the order of this world’s judgment be altered upon them.

not His sons I.e., those who say that they are not His sons. Compare, “sons that are not trustworthy” [: 20]. The meaning of the phrase is that they do not acknowledge Him as their Creator; or, if they acknowledge Him on their lips, they do not acknowledge Him in their heart, as evidenced by their not fearing God . The lamed in the word from Him is a preposition that takes a compound object. It also attaches to the word their defect, in the sense of “ because of their defect” — namely, that they are a generation crooked and perverse

The word perverse means to be confirmed and ongoing in one’s crookedness. Compare, “all of God’s twisted ways” [Genesis 30: 8]). Some say that the phrase to waste from him is to be understood as “to waste from them ” — i.e., they wasted themselves. Do not question the use of the singular, because such is the nature of the Hebrew language. Do we not also have the verse, “Remember [singular] ancient days; study [plural] the years of each generation” [: 7]? In my opinion, however, the correct interpretation is as follows: The object of the waste is God — in other words, they have perverted the ways of God which are innate, as well as the decrees which He has commanded — as if the verse had read, “A crooked generation, who are not His sons, has disregarded Him, this being their defect”. This interpretation is confirmed by the subsequent verse, Shall you render this to God . As for the letter heh which begins the verse, I have already explained its unusual size and vocalization in Sefer Moznayyim.

THE CORRUPTION WAS TOWARDS HIM; THEY ARE NOT HIS CHILDREN [BECAUSE OF] THEIR BLEMISH. The blemish is called “corruption,” as it is said, their corruption is in them, there is a blemish in them, and similarly, and he sacrificeth unto the Eternal ‘a corrupted’ thing, [which means “a blemished” thing]. He [Moses] thus states that the blemish of Israel is the corruption towards the Rock of His people and His inheritance, and [therefore] he calls them not His children, just as, in an acceptable time [a time when they conduct themselves properly] he calls them “His children.” He states that they are a generation crooked and perverse, for crookedness is the opposite of uprightness, similar to what is said, and they make crooked all equity,. The contrast between yashar (straight) and akeish (crooked) is thus clear. and the perverse is the opposite of the righteous. Consequently, since He is just and right and they are the opposite of that, they are not [considered] His children; rather, they are considered by Him to be corrupted. And the sequence of the verse is thus: “their corruption towards Him — which is their blemish — has caused them not to be considered His children, [for they are] a generation crooked and perverse.” The sense thereof is that the dimunition of their status did not result from the deed of the Rock, for He is perfect and there can never be imperfection in Him, but it is their blemish that corrupts them before their Father. And the meaning of the expression not His children is like And I will say to them that were not My people: ‘Thou art My people.’ is thus identical with not His ‘people.’ Similarly, They have aroused Me to jealousy with a no-god, meaning, with something that is not a god. So also, and they have sworn by no-gods. Or it may be that the verse here states: “The corruption towards Him is their blemish, that they are not His children, for they are a generation crooked and perverse, the opposite of Him.”

שחת לו, Israel induced its own corruption as the prophet Hoseah said in Hoseah 13,9 שחתך ישראל כי בי בעזרך, “You have caused yourself all your own injuries, corruption, for from Me you had received only help, assistance.”

לא, no one else is to blame;

בניו מומם, the word מומם is an alternate for שחת ישראל, i.e. a repetition of the same thought, their corruption. Similarly, the wordבניו is an alternate for ישראל, in other words, G’d’s children are themselves to blame for their having become corrupt. If we needed further proof for the meaning of the word שחת, we find it in Leviticus 22,25 כי משחתם בהם מום בם “for their mutilation, defectiveness is inherent in them etc.”

שחת לו לא בניו מומם דור עקש ופתלתול, however, a twisted and perverse generation He does not view as His true children, such as when they made the golden calf. מומם, their blemish was not due to anything G’d had done Moses recalls that when G’d first told him about the people having become corrupt during his stay on the mountain that they were “your people” (Exodus 32,7), that although Moses, when accepting the conversion of the mixed multitude to Judaism had meant to sanctify the name of G’d, the fact was that instead of becoming a shining example to the world, these people had corrupted what would otherwise have been a kingdom of Priests. They had re-introduced idolatry among these people so recently weaned from it.

שחת לו, לא בניו, “Is corruption His? No, His children’s is the blemish. What Moses is explaining is that if His children, the Jewish people perform corrupt deeds, it is not He who will suffer from this; the fallout of their evil deeds will leave a blemish on the children of those who have performed these deeds. They will bear the shame of the deeds of their fathers. This is also the meaning of the Targum on this verse. Rabbi Moses from Pontresia was bothered by the fact that if this interpretation is correct the Torah should have spelled the two words lo in the reverse manner, i.e. לא, לו. As a result, he interpreted the meaning as follows: “the blemish will not adhere to their children, but to them who have performed the corrupt deeds.” This is also what the prophet Hosea said in Hoseah 2,4: כי היא לא אשתי והם לא בני כי בני זנונים המה, “for she is not My wife and I am not her husband, for they are the brood of harlotry.” [though bastards cannot be blamed for the deeds of their progenitors. Ed.]