Variantly: "a crooked and twisted generation": Moses hereby says to Israel: "With the measure that you have measured I have measured you." And thus is it written (II Samuel 22:27) "With the pure You are pure, and with the crooked You are crafty."
(Devarim 32:6) "Would you thus requite the L-rd?" An analogy: A man was standing and taunting a bliustus (a senator) in the market. The bystanders: You fool, do you stand and taunt a bliustus! What if he wanted to beat you, to tear your garment, to imprison you! Could you do anything about it? If he were a kitron, (of higher station), how much more so! If he were an afarkos, (greater than both), even more so!