Deuteronomy 9

1 “Hear, O Israel: You are passing over the Jordan today to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the heavens,

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.

2 a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom you have known, and [of whom] you have heard: Who stations himself before sons of Anak?

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?”

3 And you have known today that your God YHWH [is] He who is passing over before you [as] a consuming fire; He destroys them, and He humbles them before you, and you have dispossessed them, and destroyed them quickly, as YHWH has spoken to you.

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.

4 You do not speak in your heart (in your God YHWH’s driving them away from before you), saying, In my righteousness YHWH has brought me in to possess this land; but in YHWH dispossessing these nations from your presence, [it is because of] their being wicked.

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.

5 [It is] not in your righteousness and in the uprightness of your heart [that] you are going in to possess their land, but in YHWH dispossessing these nations from your presence, [it is because of] their being wicked, and in order to establish the word which YHWH has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;

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.

6 and you have known that [it is] not in your righteousness [that] your God YHWH is giving this good land to you to possess it, for you [are] a people stiff of neck.

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.

7 Remember [and] do not forget that [with] which you have made your God YHWH angry in the wilderness; from the day that you have come out of the land of Egypt until your coming to this place, you have been rebellious against YHWH;

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.

8 even in Horeb you have made YHWH angry, and YHWH shows Himself angry against you—to destroy you.

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

9 In my going up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone (tablets of the covenant which YHWH has made with you), then I abide on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I have not eaten bread and I have not drunk water;

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.

10 and YHWH gives to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them [is] according to all the words which YHWH has spoken with you on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.

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.

11 And it comes to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, YHWH has given the two tablets of stone to me—tablets of the covenant.

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

12 Then YHWH says to me, Rise, go down, hurry from here, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have done corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I have commanded them—they have made a molten thing for themselves!

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.”

13 And YHWH speaks to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a people stiff of neck.

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

14 Desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make you become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.

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.”

15 And I turn and come down from the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant [are] on my two hands,

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

16 and I see, and behold, you have sinned against your God YHWH; you have made a molten calf for yourselves; you have quickly turned aside from the way which YHWH has commanded you.

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.

17 And I lay hold on the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes,

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

18 and I throw myself before YHWH, as at first, [for] forty days and forty nights; I have not eaten bread and I have not drunk water, because of all your sins which you have sinned by doing evil in the eyes of YHWH, to make Him angry.

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.

19 For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which YHWH has been angry against you, to destroy you; and YHWH also listens to me at this time.

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.

20 And YHWH has showed Himself very angry with Aaron, to destroy him, and I also pray for Aaron at that time.

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

21 And I have taken your sin, the calf which you have made, and I burn it with fire, and beat it, grinding well until it [is] small as dust, and I cast its dust into the brook which is going down out of the mountain.

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.

22 And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth-Hattaavah, you have been making YHWH angry;

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

23 also in YHWH’s sending you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given to you; then you provoke the mouth of your God YHWH, and have not given credence to Him, nor listened to His voice.

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.

24 You have been rebellious against YHWH from the day of my knowing you.

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

25 And I throw myself before YHWH—the forty days and the forty nights when I had thrown myself—because YHWH has commanded to destroy you;

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

26 and I pray to YHWH, and say, Lord YHWH, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have ransomed in Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a strong hand;

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.

27 be mindful of Your servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; do not turn to the stiffness of this people, and to its wickedness, and to its sin,

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

28 lest the land from which You have brought us out says, Because of YHWH’s want of ability to bring them into the land of which He has spoken to them, and because of His hating them, He brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.

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.’

29 And they [are] Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!”

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