Deuteronomy 9

1 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,

Hear O Israel! thou art passing, to-day, over the Jordan, to go in to dispossess nations, greater and stronger than thou, —cities great and fortified into the heavens;

2 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?'

a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, —whom, thou, knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?

3 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.

So then, thou must consider to-day, that Yahweh thy God, he it is that is passing over before thee as a consuming fire, he, will destroy them, and, he, will cause them to bow down before thee, —so shalt thou dispossess them, and destroy them speedily, as Yahweh hath spoken unto thee.

4 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.

Do not speak in thy heart, when Yahweh thy God casteth them out from before thee saying, For mine own righteousness, hath Yahweh brought me in, to possess this land, —whereas it is for the lawlessness of these nations, that, Yahweh, is dispossessing them from before thee.

5 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.

Not for thine own righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thine own heart, art thou going in to possess their land, —but for the lawlessness of these nations, is, Yahweh thy God driving them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob.

6 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.

So then, thou must consider that, not for thine own righteousness, is Yahweh thy God giving unto thee this good land to possess it, —for a stiff-necked people, thou art.

7 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.

Remember—do not forget, how thou didst provoke Yahweh thy God, in the desert, —yea from the day when thou camest forth out of the and of Egypt until ye entered as far as this place, have ye been quarrelling, with Yahweh.

8 Also at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to anger, and Yahweh was angry enough with you to destroy you.

Even in Horeb, ye provoked Yahweh to wrath, —so that Yahweh showed himself angry with you to destroy you.

9 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.

When I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone—the tables of the covenant, which Yahweh had solemnised with you, then abode I in the mountain forty days and forty nights, food, did I not, eat, and water, did I not drink.

10 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.

Then did Yahweh deliver unto me the two tables of stone, written with the finger of God, —and [there was] upon them, according to all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the convocation.

11 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.

So then it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave unto me the two tables of stone the tables of the covenant.

12 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.'

Then said Yahweh unto me—Up! get down quickly out of this mountain, for thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have broken faith, —they have turned aside quickly, out of the way which I commanded them, —they have made them a molten image.

13 Furthermore, Yahweh spoke to me and said, 'I have seen this people; they are a stubborn people.

And Yahweh spake unto me saying, —I have looked on this people, and lo! a stiff-necked people, it is.

14 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.'

Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and wipe out their name from under the heavens, —and make thee into a nation stronger and more in number than they.

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

So I turned, and came down out of the mountain, now the mountain was burning with fire, —and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

16 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.

Then looked I, and lo! ye had sinned against Yahweh your God, ye had made you a molten calf, —ye had turned aside quickly, out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.

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

So I seized the two tables, and cast them from off my two hands, —and brake them in pieces before your eyes.

18 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.

Then lay I prostrate before Yahweh as at the first, forty days and forty nights, food, did I not eat, and water, did I not drink, —because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing the thing that was wicked, in the eyes of Yahweh. to provoke him to anger.

19 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.

For I shrank with fear from the face of the anger and the hot displeasure, wherewith Yahweh was provoked against you to destroy you, —but Yahweh hearkened unto me, even at that time.

20 Yahweh was very angry with Aaron so as to destroy him; I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

And with Aaron, did Yahweh show himself exceedingly angry, to destroy him, —so I prostrated myself, even in behalf of Aaron at that time.

21 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.

And your sin which ye had made even the calf, took I and burned it up with fire, and pounded it very small, until it was fine as dust, —then cast I the dust thereof into the torrent that descended out of the mountain.

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

Also, at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation, became ye unto Yahweh.

23 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.

Also when Yahweh sent you out of Kadesh-barnea saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given unto you then quarreled ye with the bidding of Yahweh your God, and trusted him not, neither hearkened unto his voice.

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

Ye have been quarrelling, with Yahweh, —from the day that I first knew you.

25 So I lay facedown before Yahweh those forty days and forty nights, because he had said that he would destroy you.

Thus, then lay I prostrate before Yahweh, the forty days and the forty nights that I did lie prostrate, —because Yahweh spake of destroying you.

26 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.

Therefore I prostrated myself unto Yahweh and said, My Lord Yahweh! Do not destroy thy people even thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, —which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a firm hand.

27 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,

Have remembrance of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, —do not regard the obduracy of this people, or their lawlessness or their sin:

28 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.”

lest the land out of which thou hast brought us forth say, Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land of which he had spoken to them, —and because he hated them, took he them forth to put them to death in the desert.

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

Yet, they, are thy people and thine inheritance, —whom thou hast brought forth with thy great strength, and with thy stretched-out arm.