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Deuteronomy 9
New American Standard Bible

Israel Provoked God

9 “Hear, Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess (A)nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are great and (B)fortified to heaven, 2 a people who are great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘(C)Who can stand against the sons of Anak?’ 3 So be aware today that (D)it is the Lord your God who is crossing over ahead of you as (E)a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that (F)you may drive them out and eliminate them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.

4 “(G)Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them away from [a]you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to take possession of this land.’ Rather, it is (H)because of the [b]wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. 5 It is (I)not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land, [c]but it is because of the [d]wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and in order to confirm (J)the [e]oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 “Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are (K)a [f]stubborn people. 7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness; (L)from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 Even (M)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to anger, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. 9 When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I remained on the mountain for forty days and nights; (N)I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone (O)written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 It came about (P)at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 (Q)Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have behaved corruptly. They have (R)quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.’ 13 The (S)Lord also said to [g]me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a [h](T)stubborn people. 14 (U)Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and (V)wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15 “(W)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a cast metal image of a calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands, and smashed them to pieces before your eyes! 18 (X)Then I fell down before the Lord (Y)like the first time, for forty days and nights; (Z)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (AA)because of all your sin which you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For (AB)I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; (AC)but the Lord listened to me that time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 (AD)And I took your [i]sinful thing which you had made, the calf, and burned it in the fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

22 “Then at (AE)Taberah, at (AF)Massah, and at (AG)Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking the Lord to anger. 23 And when the Lord sent you from (AH)Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘(AI)Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the [j]command of the Lord your God; (AJ)you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice. 24 (AK)You have been rebellious toward the Lord since the day I knew you.

25 “(AL)So I fell down before the Lord for the forty days and nights, which I [k]did because the Lord said He would destroy you. 26 (AM)And I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand! 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin. 28 Otherwise, the people of the land from which You brought us will say, “(AN)Since the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had [l]promised them, and since He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness!” 29 Yet they are Your people, and (AO)Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your (AP)great power and Your outstretched arm.’

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:4 Lit you, saying
  2. Deuteronomy 9:4 Or godlessness
  3. Deuteronomy 9:5 Or for
  4. Deuteronomy 9:5 Or godlessness
  5. Deuteronomy 9:5 Lit word
  6. Deuteronomy 9:6 Lit stiff-necked
  7. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit me, saying
  8. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit stiff-necked
  9. Deuteronomy 9:21 Lit sin
  10. Deuteronomy 9:23 Lit mouth
  11. Deuteronomy 9:25 Lit fell down
  12. Deuteronomy 9:28 Lit spoken to
Close NLT

Deuteronomy 9
New Living Translation

Victory by God’s Grace

9 “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! 2 The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’ 3 But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.

4 “After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way. 5 It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.

Remembering the Gold Calf

7 “Remember and never forget how angry you made the Lord your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have been constantly rebelling against him. 8 Even at Mount Sinai[a] you made the Lord so angry he was ready to destroy you. 9 This happened when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the words of the covenant that the Lord had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate no food and drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me the two tablets on which God had written with his own finger all the words he had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were assembled at the mountain.

11 “At the end of the forty days and nights, the Lord handed me the two stone tablets inscribed with the words of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up! Go down immediately, for the people you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted gold and made an idol for themselves!’

13 “The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’

15 “So while the mountain was blazing with fire I turned and came down, holding in my hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. 16 There below me I could see that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had melted gold and made a calf idol for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away from the path the Lord had commanded you to follow! 17 So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.

18 “Then, as before, I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin you had committed by doing what the Lord hated, provoking him to anger. 19 I feared that the furious anger of the Lord, which turned him against you, would drive him to destroy you. But again he listened to me. 20 The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him, too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the Lord spared him. 21 I took your sin—the calf you had made—and I melted it down in the fire and ground it into fine dust. Then I threw the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.

22 “You also made the Lord angry at Taberah,[b] Massah,[c] and Kibroth-hattaavah.[d] 23 And at Kadesh-barnea the Lord sent you out with this command: ‘Go up and take over the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him. 24 Yes, you have been rebelling against the Lord as long as I have known you.

25 “That is why I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights—for the Lord said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand. 27 Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.” 29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’

Footnotes

  1. 9:8 Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai.
  2. 9:22a Taberah means “place of burning.” See Num 11:1-3.
  3. 9:22b Massah means “place of testing.” See Exod 17:1-7.
  4. 9:22c Kibroth-hattaavah means “graves of gluttony.” See Num 11:31-34.
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Deuteronomy 8
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.