< Deuteronomy 9 >

1 Heare O Israel, Thou shalt passe ouer Iorden this day, to goe in and to possesse nations greater and mightier then thy selfe, and cities great and walled vp to heauen,
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, euen the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, 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 Vnderstand therefore that this day ye Lord thy God is he which goeth ouer before thee as a consuming fire: he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them downe before thy face: so thou shalt cast them out and destroy them suddenly, as the Lord hath said vnto 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 Speake not thou in thine heart (after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out before thee) saying, For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in, to possesse this land: but for the wickednesse of these nations the Lord hath cast them out 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 For thou entrest not to inherite their lande for thy righteousnesse, or for thy vpright heart: but for the wickednesse of those nations, the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee, and that he might performe the worde which the Lord thy God sware vnto thy fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Iacob.
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 Vnderstand therefore, that ye Lord thy God giueth thee not this good land to possesse it for thy righteousnes: for thou art a stifnecked 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, howe thou prouokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wildernesse: since the day that thou diddest depart out of the land of Egypt, vntill ye came vnto this place ye haue rebelled 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 prouoked the Lord to anger so that the Lord was wroth with you, euen to destroy you.
Again in Horeb you made the Lord angry, and in his wrath he would have put an end to you.
9 When I was gone vp into the mount, to receiue the tables of stone, the tables, I say, of the couenant, which the Lord made with you: and I abode in the mount fourtie daies and fourtie nights, and I neither ate bread nor yet dranke 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 Then the Lord deliuered me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God, and in them was conteyned according to all the wordes which the Lord had said vnto you in the mount out of the middes of the fire, in the day of the assemblie.
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 when the fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes were ended, the Lord gaue me the two tables of stone, the tables, I say, of the couenant.
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 vnto me, Arise, get thee downe quickly from hence: for thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, haue corrupt their wayes: they are soone turned out of the way, which I commanded them: they haue 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 spake vnto me, saying, I haue seene this people, and beholde, it is a stifnecked 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 put out their name from vnder heaue, and I wil make of thee a mightie nation, and greater then they be.
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 returned, and came downe from the Mount (and the Mount burnt with fire, and ye two Tables of the couenant were in my two handes)
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 Then I looked, and beholde, ye had sinned against the Lord your God: for ye had made you a molten calfe, and had turned quickly out of 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 Therefore I tooke the two Tables, and cast them out of my two handes, and brake them before your eyes.
And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken before your eyes.
18 And I fell downe before the Lord, fourtie dayes, and fourtie nightes, as before: I neither ate bread nor dranke water, because of al your sinnes, which ye had committed, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, in that ye prouoked him vnto wrath.
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 afraide of the wrath and indignation, wherewith the Lord was mooued against you, euen to destroy you) yet the Lord heard 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 Likewise ye Lord was very angrie with Aaron, euen to destroy him: but at that time I prayed also for Aaron.
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 tooke your sinne, I meane the calfe which ye had made, and burnt him with fire, and stamped him and ground him small, euen vnto very dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the riuer, that descended out of 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 Also in Taberah, and in Massah and in Kibrothhattaauah ye prouoked ye Lord to anger.
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, Goe vp, and possesse the land which I haue giuen you, then ye rebelled against the commandement of the Lord your God, and beleeued him not, nor hearkened vnto his voyce.
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 haue bene rebellious vnto the Lord, since the day that I knewe you.
From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.
25 Then I fell downe before ye Lord fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes, as I fell downe before, because ye Lord had said, that he woulde 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 And I prayed vnto the Lord, and saide, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatnesse, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt by a mightie 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 seruants Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob: looke not to ye stubburnes of this people, nor to their wickednes, nor to their sinne,
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 countrey, whence thou broughtest them, say, Because ye Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, or because he hated them, he caried them out, to slay them in the wildernesse.
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 thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mightie power, and by thy stretched out arme.
But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.

< Deuteronomy 9 >