Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

Hear O Israel! thou art passing, to-day, over the Jordan, to go in to dispossess nations, greater and stronger than thou, —cities great and fortified into the heavens;

2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”

a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, —whom, thou, knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?

3 But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the LORD has promised you.

So then, thou must consider to-day, that Yahweh thy God, he it is that is passing over before thee as a consuming fire, he, will destroy them, and, he, will cause them to bow down before thee, —so shalt thou dispossess them, and destroy them speedily, as Yahweh hath spoken unto thee.

4 When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

Do not speak in thy heart, when Yahweh thy God casteth them out from before thee saying, For mine own righteousness, hath Yahweh brought me in, to possess this land, —whereas it is for the lawlessness of these nations, that, Yahweh, is dispossessing them from before thee.

5 It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Not for thine own righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thine own heart, art thou going in to possess their land, —but for the lawlessness of these nations, is, Yahweh thy God driving them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob.

6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

So then, thou must consider that, not for thine own righteousness, is Yahweh thy God giving unto thee this good land to possess it, —for a stiff-necked people, thou art.

7 Remember this, and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the LORD.

Remember—do not forget, how thou didst provoke Yahweh thy God, in the desert, —yea from the day when thou camest forth out of the and of Egypt until ye entered as far as this place, have ye been quarrelling, with Yahweh.

8 At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.

Even in Horeb, ye provoked Yahweh to wrath, —so that Yahweh showed himself angry with you to destroy you.

9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.

When I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone—the tables of the covenant, which Yahweh had solemnised with you, then abode I in the mountain forty days and forty nights, food, did I not, eat, and water, did I not drink.

10 Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly.

Then did Yahweh deliver unto me the two tables of stone, written with the finger of God, —and [there was] upon them, according to all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the convocation.

11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

So then it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave unto me the two tables of stone the tables of the covenant.

12 And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”

Then said Yahweh unto me—Up! get down quickly out of this mountain, for thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have broken faith, —they have turned aside quickly, out of the way which I commanded them, —they have made them a molten image.

13 The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

And Yahweh spake unto me saying, —I have looked on this people, and lo! a stiff-necked people, it is.

14 Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”

Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and wipe out their name from under the heavens, —and make thee into a nation stronger and more in number than they.

15 So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.

So I turned, and came down out of the mountain, now the mountain was burning with fire, —and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

16 And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

Then looked I, and lo! ye had sinned against Yahweh your God, ye had made you a molten calf, —ye had turned aside quickly, out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.

17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

So I seized the two tables, and cast them from off my two hands, —and brake them in pieces before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.

Then lay I prostrate before Yahweh as at the first, forty days and forty nights, food, did I not eat, and water, did I not drink, —because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing the thing that was wicked, in the eyes of Yahweh. to provoke him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

For I shrank with fear from the face of the anger and the hot displeasure, wherewith Yahweh was provoked against you to destroy you, —but Yahweh hearkened unto me, even at that time.

20 The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I also prayed for Aaron.

And with Aaron, did Yahweh show himself exceedingly angry, to destroy him, —so I prostrated myself, even in behalf of Aaron at that time.

21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

And your sin which ye had made even the calf, took I and burned it up with fire, and pounded it very small, until it was fine as dust, —then cast I the dust thereof into the torrent that descended out of the mountain.

22 You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.

Also, at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation, became ye unto Yahweh.

23 And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him.

Also when Yahweh sent you out of Kadesh-barnea saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given unto you then quarreled ye with the bidding of Yahweh your God, and trusted him not, neither hearkened unto his voice.

24 You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I came to know you.

Ye have been quarrelling, with Yahweh, —from the day that I first knew you.

25 So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

Thus, then lay I prostrate before Yahweh, the forty days and the forty nights that I did lie prostrate, —because Yahweh spake of destroying you.

26 And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Therefore I prostrated myself unto Yahweh and said, My Lord Yahweh! Do not destroy thy people even thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, —which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a firm hand.

27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people and the wickedness of their sin.

Have remembrance of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, —do not regard the obduracy of this people, or their lawlessness or their sin:

28 Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

lest the land out of which thou hast brought us forth say, Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land of which he had spoken to them, —and because he hated them, took he them forth to put them to death in the desert.

29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”

Yet, they, are thy people and thine inheritance, —whom thou hast brought forth with thy great strength, and with thy stretched-out arm.