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,

Listen, people of Israel! Shortly you're going to cross the Jordan to enter and take over the country from nations that are larger and stronger than you, that have large towns with walls that reach up into the sky.

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!

The people are strong and tall; they are the descendants of the Anakim. You all know about them and you have heard the saying, “Who could ever defeat 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.

But you should realize that today the Lord your God is going across ahead of you. He is like a consuming fire; he will destroy them and defeat them ahead of you. You will drive them out and quickly wipe them out, just as the Lord promised you.

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.

When the Lord your God has driven them out ahead of you, don't think to yourselves, “It's because I'm such a good person that the Lord has brought me here to take over this land.” No, the Lord is driving out these nations ahead of you because of they're so wicked.

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.

It's not because you're so good or moral that you are going to take over their land. No, it's because of their wickedness that the Lord your God is driving out these nations ahead of you, to keep the promise he made to your fathers—m to 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.

You'd better believe that it's not because you're such good people that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to own, because you are stubborn, hard-hearted 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.

Remember how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert! Don't ever forget it! From the time you left the land of Egypt until you arrived here, you've been constantly rebelling against the Lord.

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

At Horeb you provoked the Lord, making him so angry he was about to destroy 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:

This was when I climbed up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets that recorded agreement the Lord made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and I didn't eat or drink anything.

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.

The Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he'd written with his finger everything he'd told you when he spoke from the fire on the mountain when we were all assembled there.

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.

After forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets 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.

The Lord told me, “Hurry! Go down immediately, because your people that you led out of Egypt, are committing a terrible sin. They have disobeyed what I told them so quickly! They have made themselves an idol using molten metal.”

13 Furthermore, the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a stiff-necked people:

The Lord also told me, “I have been watching these people, and they really are a stubborn and hard-hearted.

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.

Leave me, so that I can destroy them and wipe out their name completely. Then I will turn you into a nation even more powerful and more important than them.”

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.

I went back down the mountain while it was still on fire, carrying the two tablets of the agreement.

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.

Then I saw how much you had sinned against the Lord your God by making for yourselves a molten calf. You had disobeyed what the Lord had told you so quickly.

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

I threw the two tablets down, smashing them to pieces as you watched.

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.

Then I lay down on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights, just as I had before. I didn't eat or drink anything because of all the sins you had committed by doing what was evil in the Lord's sight, making him angry.

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.

I was terrified at how angry and furious the Lord was with you. He was ready to destroy you. But once again the Lord listened to me.

20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

The Lord was so angry with Aaron he was ready to destroy him, but right then I prayed for Aaron too.

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.

I took that abominable thing, the calf you'd made, and burned it. Then I crushed it up and ground it into dust, and I threw it into the stream that descended from the mountain.

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

But you went on provoking the Lord at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.

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.

When the Lord had you leave Kadesh-barnea, he told you, “Go and take over the country that I've given you.” But you defied the command of the Lord your God. You didn't believe him and you didn't obey him.

24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day I first knew you.

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 lay down on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had threatened to destroy 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.

I prayed to the Lord, saying, “Please Lord, God, don't destroy your people that belong to you, the ones whom you rescued by your great ability and led out of Egypt by your power.

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

Please remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Please disregard the stubbornness of this people and their wicked 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.

If you don't, those people back in Egypt will say, ‘The Lord brought them out to kill them in the desert because he couldn't take them to the land he'd promised them, and because he hated them.’

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 they are your people, Lord! They belong to you! You led them out of Egypt by your amazing power and might!”