Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,

“Hear, O Israel: You are passing over the Jordan today to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the heavens,

2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?”

a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom you have known, and [of whom] you have heard: Who stations himself before sons of Anak?

3 Know therefore today that the LORD your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has spoken to you.

And you have known today that your God YHWH [is] He who is passing over before you [as] a consuming fire; He destroys them, and He humbles them before you, and you have dispossessed them, and destroyed them quickly, as YHWH has spoken to you.

4 Don’t say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out from before you, “For my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land;” because the LORD drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations.

You do not speak in your heart (in your God YHWH’s driving them away from before you), saying, In my righteousness YHWH has brought me in to possess this land; but in YHWH dispossessing these nations from your presence, [it is because of] their being wicked.

5 Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

[It is] not in your righteousness and in the uprightness of your heart [that] you are going in to possess their land, but in YHWH dispossessing these nations from your presence, [it is because of] their being wicked, and in order to establish the word which YHWH has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;

6 Know therefore that the LORD your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

and you have known that [it is] not in your righteousness [that] your God YHWH is giving this good land to you to possess it, for you [are] a people stiff of neck.

7 Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

Remember [and] do not forget that [with] which you have made your God YHWH angry in the wilderness; from the day that you have come out of the land of Egypt until your coming to this place, you have been rebellious against YHWH;

8 Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was angry with you to destroy you.

even in Horeb you have made YHWH angry, and YHWH shows Himself angry against you—to destroy you.

9 When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

In my going up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone (tablets of the covenant which YHWH has made with you), then I abide on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I have not eaten bread and I have not drunk water;

10 The LORD delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which the LORD spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.

and YHWH gives to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them [is] according to all the words which YHWH has spoken with you on the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.

11 It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant.

And it comes to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, YHWH has given the two tablets of stone to me—tablets of the covenant.

12 The LORD said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”

Then YHWH says to me, Rise, go down, hurry from here, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have done corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I have commanded them—they have made a molten thing for themselves!

13 Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.

And YHWH speaks to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a people stiff of neck.

14 Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”

Desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make you become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.

15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

And I turn and come down from the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant [are] on my two hands,

16 I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a moulded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which the LORD had commanded you.

and I see, and behold, you have sinned against your God YHWH; you have made a molten calf for yourselves; you have quickly turned aside from the way which YHWH has commanded you.

17 I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

And I lay hold on the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes,

18 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 sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

and I throw myself before YHWH, as at first, [for] forty days and forty nights; I have not eaten bread and I have not drunk water, because of all your sins which you have sinned by doing evil in the eyes of YHWH, to make Him angry.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which YHWH has been angry against you, to destroy you; and YHWH also listens to me at this time.

20 The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

And YHWH has showed Himself very angry with Aaron, to destroy him, and I also pray for Aaron at that time.

21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

And I have taken your sin, the calf which you have made, and I burn it with fire, and beat it, grinding well until it [is] small as dust, and I cast its dust into the brook which is going down out of the mountain.

22 At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth-Hattaavah, you have been making YHWH angry;

23 When the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you didn’t believe him or listen to his voice.

also in YHWH’s sending you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given to you; then you provoke the mouth of your God YHWH, and have not given credence to Him, nor listened to His voice.

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

You have been rebellious against YHWH from the day of my knowing you.

25 So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

And I throw myself before YHWH—the forty days and the forty nights when I had thrown myself—because YHWH has commanded to destroy you;

26 I prayed to the LORD, and said, “Lord GOD, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

and I pray to YHWH, and say, Lord YHWH, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have ransomed in Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a strong hand;

27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin,

be mindful of Your servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; do not turn to the stiffness of this people, and to its wickedness, and to its sin,

28 lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

lest the land from which You have brought us out says, Because of YHWH’s want of ability to bring them into the land of which He has spoken to them, and because of His hating them, He brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.

29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”

And they [are] Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!”