Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, O Israel: You go this day across Jordan to inherit nations greater and stronger than yourselves, cities great and walled up to heaven;

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 a people great and many and tall, the sons of Enac, whom you know, and concerning whom you have heard [say], Who can stand before the children of Enac?

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 And you shall know today, that the Lord your God he shall go before your face: he is a consuming fire; he shall destroy them, and he shall turn them back before you, and shall destroy them quickly, as the Lord said to 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 Speak not in your heart, when the Lord your God has destroyed these nations before your face, saying, For my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land.

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 Not for your righteousness, nor for the holiness of your heart, do you go in to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord will destroy them from before you, and that he may establish the covenant, which the Lord sware to our fathers, to Abraam, and to Isaac, and to 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 And you shall know today, that [it is] not for your righteousnesses the Lord your God gives you this good land to inherit, 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, forget not, how much you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness: from the day that you came forth out of Egypt, even till you came into this place, you continued to be disobedient towards 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 Also in Choreb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry with you 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 into the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, which the Lord made with you, and I was in 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 And the Lord gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them there had been written all the words which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain in 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 it came to pass after forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables 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, Arise, go down quickly from hence, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed; they have gone aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made 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 And the Lord spoke to me, saying, I have spoken to you once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is 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 And now suffer me utterly to destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and will make of you a nation great and strong, and more numerous than this.

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 And I turned and went down from the mountain; and the mountain burnt with fire to heaven; and the two tables of the testimonies [were] in my two 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 when I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten image, and had gone astray out of the way, which the Lord commanded you to keep;

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 then I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before you.

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

18 And I made my petition before the Lord as also at the first forty days and forty nights: I ate no bread and drank no water, on account of all your sins which you sinned in doing evil before the Lord God to provoke him.

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 And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger, because the Lord was provoked with you utterly to destroy you; yet the Lord listened to me at this time also.

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 And he was angry with Aaron to destroy him utterly, and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.

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 your sin which you had made, [even] the calf, I took, and burnt it with fire, and pounded it and ground it down till it became fine; and it became like dust, and I cast the dust into the brook that descended 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 Also in the burning, and in the temptation, and at the graves of lust, you provoked the Lord.

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 forth from Cades Barne, saying, Go up and inherit the land which I give to you, then you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and believed him not, and listened not to his voice.

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 were disobedient in the things relating to the Lord from the day in which he became known to you.

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

25 And I prayed before the Lord forty days and forty nights, the number that I prayed [before], for the Lord said that he would utterly 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 God, and said, O Lord, King of gods, destroy not your people and your inheritance, whom you did redeem, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with your great power, and with your strong hand, and with your high arm.

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 Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob your servants, to whom you sware by yourself: look not upon the hardness of heart of this people, and their impieties, and their sins.

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 Lest the inhabitants of the land whence you brought us out speak, saying, Because the Lord could not bring them into the land of which he spoke to them, and because he hated them, has he brought them forth 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 And these [are] your people and your portion, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with your great strength, and with your mighty hand, and with your high arm.

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