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, Israel! Thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to enter in to possess nations greater and mightier than thou, cities great and walled up to heaven,
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.
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard [say], Who can stand before 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.
Know then this day, that Jehovah thy God is he that goeth over before thee, a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will cast them down before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them and cause them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath said unto thee.
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.
Thou shalt not say in thy heart, when Jehovah thy God thrusteth them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah dispossess them from before thee.
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.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 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.”
Know therefore that Jehovah thy God doth not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art 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, forget not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah.
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.
And at Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you, 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 the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, and I abode in 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].
— and Jehovah delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words which Jehovah spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire 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 it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, the tables 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 Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside from the way which 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.
And Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is 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.’
Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
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.
And I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two 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, and behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God: ye had made for yourselves a molten calf; ye had quickly turned aside from the way which Jehovah 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.
And I seized the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke 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.
And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights, — I ate no bread and drank no water, — because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke 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 fury wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. And Jehovah listened unto me also at that time.
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].
And with Aaron Jehovah was very angry to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
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 your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small, until it became fine dust; and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that flowed 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.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath.
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 Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you, ye rebelled against the word of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
24 Your ancestors rebelled against Yahweh from the first day that I knew them, [in Egypt].
Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew 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 Jehovah the forty days and forty nights, as I fell down; for Jehovah 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]
I prayed therefore to Jehovah, and said, Lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a powerful 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 thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at 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.
lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he had promised them, and because he hated them, he hath 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].’”
They are indeed thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out with thy great power and with thy stretched-out arm.
