Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, O Israel: Thou [art] to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

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 children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and [of whom] thou hast heard [it said], Who can stand before the children 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 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he who goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said to thee.

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 Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

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 thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations, the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD swore to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and 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 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou [art] 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, [and] forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart from the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

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 ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

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

9 When I ascended the mount, to receive the tables of stone, [even] the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount 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 And the LORD delivered to me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you in the mount, from 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 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, [that] the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, [even] the tables 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 And the LORD said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted [themselves]; they are quickly turned aside from 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, the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, 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 heaven: and I will make of thee 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 mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables 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 And I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, [and] had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD 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 And I took the two tables, 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 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I neither ate bread, nor drank water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, 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 the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you.) But the LORD hearkened to me at 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 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed 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 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, [and] ground [it] very small, [even] until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended from the mount.

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 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.

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

23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened 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 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD 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 Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down [at the first]; because the LORD 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 therefore to the LORD, and said, O LORD God, destroy not thy people and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth 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 thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not 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 from which thou hast brought us should say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay 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] thy people and thy inheritance which thou hast brought out by thy mighty power and by thy out-stretched arm.

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