< Deuteronomy 9 >

1 “Listen, O Israel: You shall cross over the Jordan today, in order to possess nations, very great and stronger than yourself, cities vast and walled even to the sky,
Hear, O Israel: Thou are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
2 a people great and lofty, the sons of the Anakim, whom you yourselves have seen and heard, against whom no one is able to stand.
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou know, and of whom thou have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?
3 Therefore, you shall know today that the Lord your God himself will pass over before you, like a devouring and consuming fire, to crush and to wipe away and to utterly ruin them before your face, quickly, just as he has spoken to you.
Know therefore this day, that Jehovah thy God is he who goes over before thee as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before thee. So thou shall drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Jehovah has spoken to thee.
4 You should not say in your heart, when the Lord your God will have destroyed them in your sight: ‘It is because of my justice that the Lord led me in, so that I might possess this land, while these nations have been destroyed because of their impiety.’
Do not speak thou in thy heart, after Jehovah thy God has thrust them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. Whereas for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah drives them out from before thee.
5 For it is not because of your justices or the uprightness of your heart that you will enter, so that you may possess their lands. Instead, it is because they have acted wickedly that they are destroyed upon your arrival, and so that the Lord may accomplish his word, which he promised under oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, do thou go in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God drives them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Jehovah swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 Therefore, know that the Lord your God will not give you this excellent land as a possession due to your justices, for you are a very stiff-necked people.
Know therefore, that Jehovah thy God does not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou are a stiff-necked people.
7 Remember, and never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness. You have always contended against the Lord, from the day that you went forth from Egypt, even to this place.
Remember, do not thou forget how thou provoked Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou went forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah.
8 For at Horeb also, you provoked him, and, becoming angry, he was willing to destroy you,
Also in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you.
9 when I ascended onto the mountain, so that I might receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord formed with you. And I persevered on the mountain for forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water.
When I was gone up onto the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode on the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
10 And the Lord gave me two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God and containing all the words that he spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of fire, while the people, being stirred up, were assembled together.
And Jehovah delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them was according to all the words, which Jehovah spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11 And when forty days, and as many nights, had passed, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant.
12 And he said to me: ‘Rise up, and descend quickly from here. For your people, whom you led away from Egypt, have quickly abandoned the way that you have shown to them, and they have made a molten idol for themselves.’
And Jehovah said to me, Arise, get thee down quickly from here, for thy people that thou have brought forth 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.
13 And again, the Lord said to me: ‘I discern that this people is stiff-necked.
Furthermore Jehovah spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
14 Depart from me, so that I may crush them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and appoint you over a nation, which will be greater and stronger than this one.’
Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
15 And as I was descending from the burning mountain, and I held the two tablets of the covenant with both hands,
So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 and I had seen that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made a molten calf for yourselves, and had quickly abandoned his way, which he had revealed to you,
And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God. Ye had made you a molten calf. Ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you.
17 I threw down the tablets from my hands, and I broke them in your sight.
And I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.
18 And I fell prostrate before the Lord, just as before, for forty days and nights, not eating bread, and not drinking water, because of all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and because you provoked him to anger.
And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
19 For I feared his indignation and wrath, which had been stirred up against you, so that he was willing to destroy you. And the Lord heeded me at this time also.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Jehovah was angry against you to destroy you. But Jehovah hearkened to me that time also.
20 Likewise, he became vehemently angry against Aaron, and he was willing to destroy him, and I prayed for him similarly.
And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
21 But as for your sin which you committed, that is, the calf, taking hold of it, I burned it with fire. And breaking it into pieces, and reducing it entirely to dust, I threw it into the torrent that descends from the mountain.
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mount.
22 Likewise, at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath.
23 And when he sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Ascend and possess the land, which I have given to you,’ even so, you spurned the command of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him, nor were you willing to listen to his voice.
And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you, then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye did not believe him, nor hearken to his voice.
24 Instead, you were ever rebellious, from the day when I first began to know you.
Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.
25 And so, I lay prostrate before the Lord for forty days and nights, as I humbly begged him, lest he destroy you, just as he had threatened to do.
So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you.
26 And praying, I said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed in your greatness, whom you have led away from Egypt with a strong hand.
And I prayed to Jehovah, and said, O lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, that thou have redeemed through thy greatness, that thou have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look upon the stubbornness of this people, nor upon their wickedness and sinfulness.
Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look not to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their profaneness, nor to their sin,
28 Otherwise, perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which you have led us, may say: “The Lord was not able to lead them into the land, which he promised to them. And he hated them; therefore, he led them out, so that he might put them to death in the wilderness.”
lest the land from where thou brought us out say, Because Jehovah 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.
29 These are your people and your inheritance, whom you have led out by your great strength, and with your outstretched arm.’”
Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou brought out by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm.

< Deuteronomy 9 >