Deuteronomy 9

1 Listen, people of Israel! Shortly you're going to cross the Jordan to enter and take over the country from nations that are larger and stronger than you, that have large towns with walls that reach up into the sky.

Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass this day over the Jordan, to go in to drive out nations greater and mightier than thou, [to conquer] cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2 The people are strong and tall; they are the descendants of the Anakim. You all know about them and you have heard the saying, “Who could ever defeat the sons of Anak?”

A people great and tall, the children of the 'Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of 'Anak!

3 But you should realize that today the Lord your God is going across ahead of you. He is like a consuming fire; he will destroy them and defeat them ahead of you. You will drive them out and quickly wipe them out, just as the Lord promised you.

Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God it is who goeth over before thee, he is a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before thy face; and thou wilt drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath spoken unto thee.

4 When the Lord your God has driven them out ahead of you, don't think to yourselves, “It's because I'm such a good person that the Lord has brought me here to take over this land.” No, the Lord is driving out these nations ahead of you because of they're so wicked.

Thou must not say in thy heart, when the Lord thy God doth cast them out from before thee, as followeth, For my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land; and that for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.

5 It's not because you're so good or moral that you are going to take over their land. No, it's because of their wickedness that the Lord your God is driving out these nations ahead of you, to keep the promise he made to your fathers—m to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Not for thy righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth the Lord thy God drive them out from before thee, and in order that he may fulfill the word which the Lord hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 You'd better believe that it's not because you're such good people that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to own, because you are stubborn, hard-hearted people.

And thou shalt know, that not for thy righteousness doth the Lord thy God give unto thee this good land to possess it; for thou art a stiff-necked people.

7 Remember how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert! Don't ever forget it! From the time you left the land of Egypt until you arrived here, you've been constantly rebelling against the Lord.

Remember, do not forget, how thou didst provoke the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, have ye been rebellious against the Lord.

8 At Horeb you provoked the Lord, making him so angry he was about to destroy you.

Also at Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to destroy you.

9 This was when I climbed up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets that recorded agreement the Lord made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and I didn't eat or drink anything.

When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, and I abode on the mount forty days and forty nights, bread did I not eat, and water did I not drink.

10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he'd written with his finger everything he'd told you when he spoke from the fire on the mountain when we were all assembled there.

And the Lord gave unto me the two tables of stone inscribed by the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which the Lord had spoken with you on the mount out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11 After forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the agreement.

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

12 The Lord told me, “Hurry! Go down immediately, because your people that you led out of Egypt, are committing a terrible sin. They have disobeyed what I told them so quickly! They have made themselves an idol using molten metal.”

And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from here; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have become corrupted; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.

13 The Lord also told me, “I have been watching these people, and they really are a stubborn and hard-hearted.

And the Lord said unto me, thus, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

14 Leave me, so that I can destroy them and wipe out their name completely. Then I will turn you into a nation even more powerful and more important than them.”

Let me alone, and I will destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and more numerous than they.

15 I went back down the mountain while it was still on fire, carrying the two tablets of the agreement.

And I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

16 Then I saw how much you had sinned against the Lord your God by making for yourselves a molten calf. You had disobeyed what the Lord had told you so quickly.

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

17 I threw the two tablets down, smashing them to pieces as you watched.

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

18 Then I lay down on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights, just as I had before. I didn't eat or drink anything because of all the sins you had committed by doing what was evil in the Lord's sight, making him angry.

And I threw myself down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; bread did I not eat, and water did I not drink; on account of all your sins which ye had committed, in doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

19 I was terrified at how angry and furious the Lord was with you. He was ready to destroy you. But once again the Lord listened to me.

For I was afraid of the anger and the indignation, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you; but the Lord hearkened unto me also at that time.

20 The Lord was so angry with Aaron he was ready to destroy him, but right then I prayed for Aaron too.

And with Aaron was the Lord very angry to destroy him; and I prayed also for Aaron at the same time.

21 I took that abominable thing, the calf you'd made, and burned it. Then I crushed it up and ground it into dust, and I threw it into the stream that descended from the mountain.

And your work of sin, which ye had made, the calf, I took and burnt it in fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descendeth from the mount.

22 But you went on provoking the Lord at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.

And at Taberah, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah, have ye been provoking the Lord to wrath.

23 When the Lord had you leave Kadesh-barnea, he told you, “Go and take over the country that I've given you.” But you defied the command of the Lord your God. You didn't believe him and you didn't obey him.

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea', saying, Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you: then rebelled ye against the order of the Lord your God, and ye believed not in him, and ye hearkened not to his voice.

24 You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day I first knew you.

Rebellious have ye been against the Lord, from the day that I have known you.

25 So I lay down on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.

And I threw myself down before the Lord those forty days and forty nights, which I threw myself down; because the Lord had said that he would destroy you.

26 I prayed to the Lord, saying, “Please Lord, God, don't destroy your people that belong to you, the ones whom you rescued by your great ability and led out of Egypt by your power.

And I prayed unto the Lord, and said, O Lord Eternal, destroy not thy people and thy heritage, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Please remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Please disregard the stubbornness of this people and their wicked sin.

Think of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; turn not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to its wickedness, nor to its sin:

28 If you don't, those people back in Egypt will say, ‘The Lord brought them out to kill them in the desert because he couldn't take them to the land he'd promised them, and because he hated them.’

Lest [the inhabitants of] the land whence thou hast brought us out say, Out of want of ability in the Lord to bring them into the land which he had promised them, and out of his hatred to them, hath he brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 But they are your people, Lord! They belong to you! You led them out of Egypt by your amazing power and might!”

Whereas they are thy people and thy heritage, whom thou hast brought out by thy mighty power and by thy outstretched arm.