Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,

Give ear, O Israel: today you are to go over Jordan, to take the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves, and towns of great size with walls as high as heaven;

2 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?"

A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, of whom you have knowledge and of whom it has been said, All are forced to give way before the sons of Anak.

3 Know therefore this day, that YHWH 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 to perish quickly, as YHWH has spoken to you.

Be certain then today that it is the Lord your God who goes over before you like an all-burning fire; he will send destruction on them, crushing them before you; and you will send them in flight, putting an end to them quickly, as the Lord has said.

4 Do not say in your heart, after YHWH your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, "For my righteousness YHWH has brought me in to possess this land"; because YHWH drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations.

And after the Lord has sent them in flight from before you, say not in your heart, Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land; when it is because of their evil-doing that the Lord is driving these nations out before you.

5 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 YHWH does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Not for your righteousness or because your hearts are upright are you going in to take their land; but because of the evil-doing of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and to give effect to his oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Know therefore, that YHWH your God doesn't give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

7 Remember, do not forget, how you provoked YHWH your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against YHWH.

Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.

8 Also in Horeb you provoked YHWH to wrath, and YHWH was angry with you to destroy you.

Again in Horeb you made the Lord angry, and in his wrath he would have put an end to you.

9 When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which YHWH made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

When I had gone up into the mountain to be given the stones on which was recorded the agreement which the Lord made with you, I was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without taking food or drinking water.

10 YHWH delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were all the words which YHWH spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

And the Lord gave me the two stones with writing on them done by the finger of God: on them were recorded all the words which the Lord said to you on the mountain out of the heart of the fire, on the day of the great meeting.

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

Then at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me those stones, the stones of the agreement.

12 YHWH 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 aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image."

And the Lord said to me, Get up now, and go down quickly from this place; for the people you have taken out of Egypt have given themselves over to evil; they have quickly been turned from the way in which I gave them orders to go; they have made themselves a metal image.

13 Furthermore YHWH spoke to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people:

And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked:

14 let 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."

Let me send destruction on them till their very name is cut off; and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they.

15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire: and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

So turning round I came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two stones of the agreement were in my hands.

16 I looked, and look, you had sinned against YHWH your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which YHWH had commanded you.

And I saw that you had done evil against the Lord, and had made for yourselves a metal image of a young ox: you had quickly been turned from the way in which the Lord had given you orders to go.

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

And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes.

18 I fell down before YHWH, 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 sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.

And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which YHWH was angry against you to destroy you. But YHWH listened to me that time also.

For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer.

20 YHWH was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.

21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

And I took your sin, the image which you had made, and put it in the fire and had it hammered and crushed very small till it was only dust: and the dust I put in the stream flowing down from the mountain.

22 At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked YHWH to wrath.

Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you made the Lord angry.

23 When YHWH sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, "Go up and possess the land which I have given you"; then you rebelled against the commandment of YHWH your God, and you did not believe him, nor listen to his voice.

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice.

24 You have been rebellious against YHWH from the day that I knew you.

From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.

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

So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you.

26 I prayed to God, and said, "Lord YHWH, 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.

And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand.

27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,

Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin:

28 lest the land you brought us out from say, 'Because YHWH 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.'

Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land.

29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm."

But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.