Deuteronomy 9

1 “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.

Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

2 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.

The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”

3 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.

But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the LORD has promised you.

4 “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.

When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

5 [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.

It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 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.”

Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

7 “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.

Remember this, and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the LORD.

8 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.

At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.

9 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.

When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.

10 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].

Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly.

11 “At the end of those 40 days and nights, Yahweh gave me those two stone tablets on which he had written those commandments.

And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

12 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].’

And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”

13 Then Yahweh said to me, ‘I have been watching these people, and I see that they are very stubborn.

The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

14 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.’

Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”

15 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.

So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.

16 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].

And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

17 So while they were watching, I lifted up those two stone tablets and threw them [on the ground], and they broke into pieces.

So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

18 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.

Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.

19 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].

For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

20 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].

The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I also prayed for Aaron.

21 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.

And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

22 Your ancestors also caused Yahweh to become very angry [by what they did] at [places which they named] Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-Hattaavah.

You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.

23 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.

And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him.

24 Your ancestors rebelled against Yahweh from the first day that I knew them, [in Egypt].

You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I came to know you.

25 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.

So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

26 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]

And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 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.

Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people and the wickedness of their sin.

28 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.

Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

29 [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].’”

But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”