When the Lord Fulfills His Promise

9 “Listen, Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and dispossess greater and mightier nations than you, who live in^[a] large cities that are fortified to the sky. ² The Anakim^[b] are strong and tall, and you know them. You’ve heard it said, ‘Who can stand up against the Anakim?’^{[c] 3} But know today that the Lord your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord told you. ⁴ After the Lord has expelled them before you, you are not to say to yourselves, ‘The Lord caused me to enter and possess this land because of my righteousness.’ ⁵ On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you to confirm what the Lord promised by an oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ Know that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving to you this good land to inherit, since you are a stubborn people.”

Israel Broke the Covenant

⁷ “Remember—and don’t ever forget—how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert. From the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebelling against the Lord. ⁸ At Horeb you continually rebelled against the Lord so that he^[d] was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the Lord had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water. ¹⁰ Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which God inscribed with his own finger all the words that the Lord spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire that day when you were all assembled together. ¹¹ At the end of 40 days and nights, the Lord gave to me the two stone Tablets of the Covenant.

¹² “Then the Lord told me, ‘Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them and have cast an idol for their use.’

¹³ “Then the Lord told me, ‘I have examined this people, and they^[e] are stubborn indeed. ¹⁴ Let me alone! I will destroy them, blot out their name from heaven, and then I’ll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.’

¹⁵ “So I turned and went down from the mountain while the mountain was on fire. The two Tablets of the Covenant were in both of my hands. ¹⁶ Then I saw how you had really sinned against the Lord your God! You had made for yourselves a calf—a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord your God had commanded. ¹⁷ So I grabbed the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down in the Lord’s presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I didn’t eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in full view of the Lord, thereby provoking him to anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the Lord also listened to me at that time. ²⁰ It was as had been the case with Aaron—the Lord was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time. ²¹ So when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

Moses Interceded for Israel

²² “You provoked the Lord again at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. ²³ When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea and told you, ‘Go possess the land that I gave you,’ instead you disobeyed what the Lord your God said. You didn’t trust him or listen to his voice. ²⁴ You have been rebelling against the Lord since the day I knew you. ²⁵ I fell down in the Lord’s presence for 40 days and nights, because the Lord said he was ready to destroy you. ²⁶ So I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord my God, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed by your power.^[f] You brought them out from Egypt in a powerful way. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t pay attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sinfulness of this people. ²⁸ Otherwise, the people of the land from which you brought us will say, “The Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land that he had promised them. So he brought them out to kill them in the desert because he hated them.” ²⁹ But they are your people and inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty strength^[g] and awesome power.’”