Deuteronomy 9
1 Heare O Israel, Thou shalt passe ouer Iorden this day, to goe in and to possesse nations greater and mightier then thy selfe, and cities great and walled vp to heauen,
“You people of Israel, listen to me! You will soon [HYP] cross the Jordan [River]. In the land that you will enter, there are large cities that have very high walls [around them] that [seem to] [HYP] extend up to the sky. There are people-groups in that land that are more numerous and more powerful than you are.
2 A people great and tall, euen the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak?
Those people are very tall and strong. [Some of them] are giants who are descendants of Anak. You know about them, and you have heard people say that no one [RHQ] can defeat the descendants of Anak.
3 Vnderstand therefore that this day ye Lord thy God is he which goeth ouer before thee as a consuming fire: he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them downe before thy face: so thou shalt cast them out and destroy them suddenly, as the Lord hath said vnto thee.
But I want you to know that Yahweh our God will go ahead of you. He will be like a raging/roaring fire. While you advance, he will defeat and destroy them. As a result, you will quickly be able to expel some of them and kill the others, which is what Yahweh promised that you would do.
4 Speake not thou in thine heart (after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out before thee) saying, For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in, to possesse this land: but for the wickednesse of these nations the Lord hath cast them out before thee.
“After Yahweh our God has expelled them for you, do not say to yourselves, ‘It is because we are righteous that Yahweh has enabled us to capture this land.’ The truth is that it is because the people in that land are wicked that Yahweh will expel them as you advance.
5 For thou entrest not to inherite their lande for thy righteousnesse, or for thy vpright heart: but for the wickednesse of those nations, the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee, and that he might performe the worde which the Lord thy God sware vnto thy fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Iacob.
[I say again that] it is not because you are righteous or because you do things that are righteous that you will enter and capture that land. It is because those people-groups are very wicked that Yahweh our God will expel them as you advance, and because he intends to do what he vowed to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would do.
6 Vnderstand therefore, that ye Lord thy God giueth thee not this good land to possesse it for thy righteousnes: for thou art a stifnecked people.
I want you to know that it is not because you are righteous that Yahweh our God is giving you this good/fertile land. I say that because [you are not righteous]; you are a very stubborn [IDM] people.”
7 Remember, and forget not, howe thou prouokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wildernesse: since the day that thou diddest depart out of the land of Egypt, vntill ye came vnto this place ye haue rebelled against the Lord.
“Never forget what your ancestors did in the desert that caused Yahweh our God to become angry. From the day that we left Egypt until the day that we arrived here, you and your ancestors have continually rebelled against him.
8 Also in Horeb ye prouoked the Lord to anger so that the Lord was wroth with you, euen to destroy you.
Even at Sinai [Mountain] your ancestors caused Yahweh to become angry. Because he was very angry, he was ready to get rid of [all of] them.
9 When I was gone vp into the mount, to receiue the tables of stone, the tables, I say, of the couenant, which the Lord made with you: and I abode in the mount fourtie daies and fourtie nights, and I neither ate bread nor yet dranke water:
When I climbed the mountain to receive from him the stone tablets on which he had written the Ten Commandments that he was giving to them, I stayed there 40 days and nights, and [during that time] I did not eat or drink anything.
10 Then the Lord deliuered me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God, and in them was conteyned according to all the wordes which the Lord had said vnto you in the mount out of the middes of the fire, in the day of the assemblie.
Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written [the commandments] with his own fingers. They were the words/commandments that he had spoken to your ancestors from the fire on that mountain, when they were gathered together [at the bottom of the mountain].
11 And when the fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes were ended, the Lord gaue me the two tables of stone, the tables, I say, of the couenant.
“At the end of those 40 days and nights, Yahweh gave me those two stone tablets on which he had written those commandments.
12 And the Lord said vnto me, Arise, get thee downe quickly from hence: for thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, haue corrupt their wayes: they are soone turned out of the way, which I commanded them: they haue made them a molten image.
But then he said to me, ‘Go down the mountain immediately, because [the people whom you are leading], the people whom you led out of Egypt, have committed a terrible sin! They have very quickly done what I commanded them not to do. They have made for themselves a metal statue [of a calf to worship].’
13 Furthermore, the Lord spake vnto me, saying, I haue seene this people, and beholde, it is a stifnecked people.
Then Yahweh said to me, ‘I have been watching these people, and I see that they are very stubborn.
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and put out their name from vnder heaue, and I wil make of thee a mightie nation, and greater then they be.
So do not try to stop me. I am going to destroy all of them, with the result that no one anywhere will remember (their names [MTY]/that they ever existed). Then I will enable you to become [the ancestor of] a nation that will be more numerous and more powerful than they are.’
15 So I returned, and came downe from the Mount (and the Mount burnt with fire, and ye two Tables of the couenant were in my two handes)
So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying in my hands the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were [written]. Fire was burning all over the mountain.
16 Then I looked, and beholde, ye had sinned against the Lord your God: for ye had made you a molten calfe, and had turned quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.
I looked, and I was shocked to see that your ancestors had committed a [great] sin against Yahweh. They very quickly had begun to do what Yahweh our God had commanded them not to do. They had [requested Aaron to] make for them [a metal image of] a calf [to worship].
17 Therefore I tooke the two Tables, and cast them out of my two handes, and brake them before your eyes.
So while they were watching, I lifted up those two stone tablets and threw them [on the ground], and they broke into pieces.
18 And I fell downe before the Lord, fourtie dayes, and fourtie nightes, as before: I neither ate bread nor dranke water, because of al your sinnes, which ye had committed, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, in that ye prouoked him vnto wrath.
Then I (prostrated myself/lay) on the ground in Yahweh’s presence as I had done before, and I did not eat or drink anything for 40 days and nights. I did that because your ancestors had sinned against Yahweh and caused him to become very angry.
19 (For I was afraide of the wrath and indignation, wherewith the Lord was mooued against you, euen to destroy you) yet the Lord heard me at that time also.
I was afraid/worried that because Yahweh was very angry with them, he would get rid of all of them. [But again I prayed that he would not do that], and again he listened to me [and answered my prayer].
20 Likewise ye Lord was very angrie with Aaron, euen to destroy him: but at that time I prayed also for Aaron.
Yahweh was also very angry with Aaron [for making that golden calf] and was ready to kill Aaron. But at the same time I prayed for Aaron also, [and Yahweh answered my prayer].
21 And I tooke your sinne, I meane the calfe which ye had made, and burnt him with fire, and stamped him and ground him small, euen vnto very dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the riuer, that descended out of the mount.
Your ancestors had sinned by [requesting Aaron to] make [a metal statue of] a calf. So I took that statue and [I melted it] in a fire and crushed it and ground it into very tiny pieces [HYP]. Then I threw those tiny pieces into the stream that flowed down the mountain.
22 Also in Taberah, and in Massah and in Kibrothhattaauah ye prouoked ye Lord to anger.
Your ancestors also caused Yahweh to become very angry [by what they did] at [places which they named] Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-Hattaavah.
23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Goe vp, and possesse the land which I haue giuen you, then ye rebelled against the commandement of the Lord your God, and beleeued him not, nor hearkened vnto his voyce.
And when we were at Kadesh-Barnea, Yahweh said to your ancestors, ‘Go up and capture the land that I am about to give to you!’ But they rebelled against him. They did not trust him, and they did not obey what he told [MTY] them to do.
24 Ye haue bene rebellious vnto the Lord, since the day that I knewe you.
Your ancestors rebelled against Yahweh from the first day that I knew them, [in Egypt].
25 Then I fell downe before ye Lord fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes, as I fell downe before, because ye Lord had said, that he woulde destroy you.
So, [as I said], I lay on the ground in Yahweh’s presence for 40 days and nights, because Yahweh had said that he would get rid of your ancestors.
26 And I prayed vnto the Lord, and saide, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatnesse, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt by a mightie hand.
And I prayed to Yahweh, saying, ‘Lord God, these people belong to you; do not destroy them. They are people whom you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your very great power. [DOU, MTY]
27 Remember thy seruants Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob: looke not to ye stubburnes of this people, nor to their wickednes, nor to their sinne,
Do not forget [what you promised to] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Please ignore these stubborn and wicked people and the sin that they have committed.
28 Lest the countrey, whence thou broughtest them, say, Because ye Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, or because he hated them, he caried them out, to slay them in the wildernesse.
If you do not do that, [and if you get rid of them], the people of Egypt will [hear about it and] say that you were not able to bring them into the land that you promised to give to them. They will say that you took them into the desert only to kill them there because you hated them.
29 Yet they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mightie power, and by thy stretched out arme.
[Do not forget that] they are your people. [You chose them to] belong to you. You brought them out [from Egypt] by your very great power [DOU, MTY].’”
