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,

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 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?

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 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.

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 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.

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 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;

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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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!

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

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

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.

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 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,

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 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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 rebellious against YHWH from the day of my knowing you.

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

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 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;

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 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,

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 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.

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

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