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,

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, 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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

Then at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me those stones, the stones of the agreement.

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.'

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

And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked:

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

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 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.

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

And I let the stones go from my hands, and they were broken 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.

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

And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same 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 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 At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath.

Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you made the Lord angry.

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.

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

From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.

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

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 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,

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 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.”

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

But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.