Deuteronomy 9

1 “You people of Israel, listen to me! You will soon [HYP] cross the Jordan [River]. In the land that you will enter, there are large cities that have very high walls [around them] that [seem to] [HYP] extend up to the sky. There are people-groups in that land that are more numerous and more powerful than you are.

Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass this day over the Jordan, to go in to drive out nations greater and mightier than thou, [to conquer] cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2 Those people are very tall and strong. [Some of them] are giants who are descendants of Anak. You know about them, and you have heard people say that no one [RHQ] can defeat the descendants of Anak.

A people great and tall, the children of the 'Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of 'Anak!

3 But I want you to know that Yahweh our God will go ahead of you. He will be like a raging/roaring fire. While you advance, he will defeat and destroy them. As a result, you will quickly be able to expel some of them and kill the others, which is what Yahweh promised that you would do.

Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God it is who goeth over before thee, he is a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before thy face; and thou wilt drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath spoken unto thee.

4 “After Yahweh our God has expelled them for you, do not say to yourselves, ‘It is because we are righteous that Yahweh has enabled us to capture this land.’ The truth is that it is because the people in that land are wicked that Yahweh will expel them as you advance.

Thou must not say in thy heart, when the Lord thy God doth cast them out from before thee, as followeth, For my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land; and that for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.

5 [I say again that] it is not because you are righteous or because you do things that are righteous that you will enter and capture that land. It is because those people-groups are very wicked that Yahweh our God will expel them as you advance, and because he intends to do what he vowed to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would do.

Not for thy righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth the Lord thy God drive them out from before thee, and in order that he may fulfill the word which the Lord hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 I want you to know that it is not because you are righteous that Yahweh our God is giving you this good/fertile land. I say that because [you are not righteous]; you are a very stubborn [IDM] people.”

And thou shalt know, that not for thy righteousness doth the Lord thy God give unto thee this good land to possess it; for thou art a stiff-necked people.

7 “Never forget what your ancestors did in the desert that caused Yahweh our God to become angry. From the day that we left Egypt until the day that we arrived here, you and your ancestors have continually rebelled against him.

Remember, do not forget, how thou didst provoke the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, have ye been rebellious against the Lord.

8 Even at Sinai [Mountain] your ancestors caused Yahweh to become angry. Because he was very angry, he was ready to get rid of [all of] them.

Also at Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to destroy you.

9 When I climbed the mountain to receive from him the stone tablets on which he had written the Ten Commandments that he was giving to them, I stayed there 40 days and nights, and [during that time] I did not eat or drink anything.

When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, and I abode on the mount forty days and forty nights, bread did I not eat, and water did I not drink.

10 Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written [the commandments] with his own fingers. They were the words/commandments that he had spoken to your ancestors from the fire on that mountain, when they were gathered together [at the bottom of the mountain].

And the Lord gave unto me the two tables of stone inscribed by the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which the Lord had spoken with you on the mount out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11 “At the end of those 40 days and nights, Yahweh gave me those two stone tablets on which he had written those commandments.

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

12 But then he said to me, ‘Go down the mountain immediately, because [the people whom you are leading], the people whom you led out of Egypt, have committed a terrible sin! They have very quickly done what I commanded them not to do. They have made for themselves a metal statue [of a calf to worship].’

And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from here; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have become corrupted; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.

13 Then Yahweh said to me, ‘I have been watching these people, and I see that they are very stubborn.

And the Lord said unto me, thus, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

14 So do not try to stop me. I am going to destroy all of them, with the result that no one anywhere will remember (their names [MTY]/that they ever existed). Then I will enable you to become [the ancestor of] a nation that will be more numerous and more powerful than they are.’

Let me alone, and I will destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and more numerous than they.

15 So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying in my hands the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were [written]. Fire was burning all over the mountain.

And I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

16 I looked, and I was shocked to see that your ancestors had committed a [great] sin against Yahweh. They very quickly had begun to do what Yahweh our God had commanded them not to do. They had [requested Aaron to] make for them [a metal image of] a calf [to worship].

And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, ye had made yourselves a molten calf; ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.

17 So while they were watching, I lifted up those two stone tablets and threw them [on the ground], and they broke into pieces.

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

18 Then I (prostrated myself/lay) on the ground in Yahweh’s presence as I had done before, and I did not eat or drink anything for 40 days and nights. I did that because your ancestors had sinned against Yahweh and caused him to become very angry.

And I threw myself down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; bread did I not eat, and water did I not drink; on account of all your sins which ye had committed, in doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

19 I was afraid/worried that because Yahweh was very angry with them, he would get rid of all of them. [But again I prayed that he would not do that], and again he listened to me [and answered my prayer].

For I was afraid of the anger and the indignation, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you; but the Lord hearkened unto me also at that time.

20 Yahweh was also very angry with Aaron [for making that golden calf] and was ready to kill Aaron. But at the same time I prayed for Aaron also, [and Yahweh answered my prayer].

And with Aaron was the Lord very angry to destroy him; and I prayed also for Aaron at the same time.

21 Your ancestors had sinned by [requesting Aaron to] make [a metal statue of] a calf. So I took that statue and [I melted it] in a fire and crushed it and ground it into very tiny pieces [HYP]. Then I threw those tiny pieces into the stream that flowed down the mountain.

And your work of sin, which ye had made, the calf, I took and burnt it in fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descendeth from the mount.

22 Your ancestors also caused Yahweh to become very angry [by what they did] at [places which they named] Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-Hattaavah.

And at Taberah, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah, have ye been provoking the Lord to wrath.

23 And when we were at Kadesh-Barnea, Yahweh said to your ancestors, ‘Go up and capture the land that I am about to give to you!’ But they rebelled against him. They did not trust him, and they did not obey what he told [MTY] them to do.

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea', saying, Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you: then rebelled ye against the order of the Lord your God, and ye believed not in him, and ye hearkened not to his voice.

24 Your ancestors rebelled against Yahweh from the first day that I knew them, [in Egypt].

Rebellious have ye been against the Lord, from the day that I have known you.

25 So, [as I said], I lay on the ground in Yahweh’s presence for 40 days and nights, because Yahweh had said that he would get rid of your ancestors.

And I threw myself down before the Lord those forty days and forty nights, which I threw myself down; because the Lord had said that he would destroy you.

26 And I prayed to Yahweh, saying, ‘Lord God, these people belong to you; do not destroy them. They are people whom you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your very great power. [DOU, MTY]

And I prayed unto the Lord, and said, O Lord Eternal, destroy not thy people and thy heritage, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Do not forget [what you promised to] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Please ignore these stubborn and wicked people and the sin that they have committed.

Think of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; turn not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to its wickedness, nor to its sin:

28 If you do not do that, [and if you get rid of them], the people of Egypt will [hear about it and] say that you were not able to bring them into the land that you promised to give to them. They will say that you took them into the desert only to kill them there because you hated them.

Lest [the inhabitants of] the land whence thou hast brought us out say, Out of want of ability in the Lord to bring them into the land which he had promised them, and out of his hatred to them, hath he brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 [Do not forget that] they are your people. [You chose them to] belong to you. You brought them out [from Egypt] by your very great power [DOU, MTY].’”

Whereas they are thy people and thy heritage, whom thou hast brought out by thy mighty power and by thy outstretched arm.