Deuteronomy 9

¹Give ear, O Israel: today you are to go over Jordan, to take the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves, and towns of great size with walls as high as heaven;

²A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, of whom you have knowledge and of whom it has been said, All are forced to give way before the sons of Anak.

³Be certain then today that it is the Lord your God who goes over before you like an all-burning fire; he will send destruction on them, crushing them before you; and you will send them in flight, putting an end to them quickly, as the Lord has said.

⁴And after the Lord has sent them in flight from before you, say not in your heart, Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land; when it is because of their evil-doing that the Lord is driving these nations out before you.

⁵Not for your righteousness or because your hearts are upright are you going in to take their land; but because of the evil-doing of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and to give effect to his oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.

⁸Again in Horeb you made the Lord angry, and in his wrath he would have put an end to you.

⁹When I had gone up into the mountain to be given the stones on which was recorded the agreement which the Lord made with you, I was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without taking food or drinking water.

¹⁰And the Lord gave me the two stones with writing on them done by the finger of God: on them were recorded all the words which the Lord said to you on the mountain out of the heart of the fire, on the day of the great meeting.

¹¹Then at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me those stones, the stones of the agreement.

¹²And the Lord said to me, Get up now, and go down quickly from this place; for the people you have taken out of Egypt have given themselves over to evil; they have quickly been turned from the way in which I gave them orders to go; they have made themselves a metal image.

¹³And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked:

¹⁴Let me send destruction on them till their very name is cut off; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they.

¹⁵So turning round I came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two stones of the agreement were in my hands.

¹⁶And I saw that you had done evil against the Lord, and had made for yourselves a metal image of a young ox: you had quickly been turned from the way in which the Lord had given you orders to go.

¹⁷And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes.

¹⁸And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath.

¹⁹For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer.

²⁰And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.

²¹And I took your sin, the image which you had made, and put it in the fire and had it hammered and crushed very small till it was only dust: and the dust I put in the stream flowing down from the mountain.

²²Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you made the Lord angry.

²³And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice.

²⁴From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.

²⁵So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you.

²⁶And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand.

²⁷Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin:

²⁸Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land.

²⁹But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.

Deuteronomy 9

¹Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,

²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?"

³Know therefore this day, that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so you shall drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as the Lord has spoken to you.

⁴Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, "For my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land"; because the Lord drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations.

⁵Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶Know therefore, that the Lord your God doesn't give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Remember, do not forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

⁸Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was angry with you to destroy you.

⁹When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

¹⁰The Lord delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

¹¹It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

¹²The Lord said to me, "Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image."

¹³Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

¹⁴let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they."

¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.

¹⁷I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water; because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the Lord was angry against you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.

²⁰The Lord was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

²²At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked the Lord to wrath.

²³When the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, "Go up and possess the land which I have given you"; then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him, nor listen to his voice.

²⁴You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

²⁵So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because the Lord had said he would destroy you.

²⁶I prayed to the Lord, and said, "Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,

²⁸lest the land you brought us out from say, 'Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.'

²⁹Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm."