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, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,

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 the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have 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.

Know therefore today that the LORD your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has spoken to you.

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 say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out from before you, “For my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land;” because the LORD drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations.

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 your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 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.

Know therefore that the LORD your God does not give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

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 toward the Lord.

Remember, and do not forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

8 Also in Choreb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry with you to destroy you;

Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was 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 had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

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.

The LORD delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which the LORD spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.

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.

It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets 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.

The LORD said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”

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.

Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.

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.

Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”

15 And I turned and went down from the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to heaven; and the two tables of the testimonies [were] in my two hands.

So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in 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;

I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which the LORD 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.

I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them 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.

I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, 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 was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

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

The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same 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.

I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook 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.

At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

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.

When the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you did not believe him or listen to his voice.

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

You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I 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.

So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because the LORD had said he would destroy 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.

I prayed to the LORD, and said, “Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your inheritance that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty 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.

Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at 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 you brought us out from say, ‘Because the LORD 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 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 your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”