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; you are about to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, and cities that are great and fortified 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 you know, and of whom you have heard people 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 therefore today that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you like a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you; so will you drive them out and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has said to 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.

Do not say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, 'It was because of my righteousness that Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,' for it was because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is driving them out from before you.

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 the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that your God is driving them out from before you, and so that he may make come true the word that he swore to your ancestors, 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.”

Know therefore, that Yahweh your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn 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 and do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to anger in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.

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.

Also at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to anger, and Yahweh was angry enough 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 tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank 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].

Yahweh gave to me the two tablets of stone written with his finger; on them was written everything just like all the words that Yahweh announced to you on the mountain out of the middle 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.

It happened at the end of those forty days and forty nights that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, 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].’

Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the path that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast figure.'

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

Furthermore, Yahweh spoke to me and said, 'I have seen this people; they are a stubborn 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, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you 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.

So I turned around and came down the mountain, and the mountain was burning. The two tablets of the covenant were 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].

I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had molded for yourselves a calf. You had quickly turned aside out of the path that Yahweh 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.

I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands. I 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.

Again I lay facedown before Yahweh for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin that you had committed, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so as 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 hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry enough against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also.

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].

Yahweh was very angry with Aaron so as to destroy him; 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.

I took your sin, the calf that you had made, and burned it, beat it, and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust 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.

At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh 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.

When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea and said, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe or listen to his voice.

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

You have been rebellious against Yahweh 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 lay facedown before Yahweh those forty days and forty nights, because he had said that 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 to Yahweh and said, 'O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people or your inheritance whom you have redeemed through your greatness, which you have 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.

Call to mind your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look 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.

so that the land from where you brought us should say, “Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land that he promised to 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].’”

Yet they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great strength and by the display of your power.'