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.’

The Tablets Rewritten

10 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘^(AQ)Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first two, and come up to Me on the mountain, and ^(AR)make an ^[m]ark of wood for yourself. ² Then ^(AS)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed to pieces, and ^(AT)you shall put them in the ark.’ ³ So ^(AU)I made an ark of acacia wood and ^(AV)cut out two tablets of stone like the first two, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ Then He wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, ^(AW)the Ten ^[n]Commandments ^(AX)which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire ^(AY)on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and ^(AZ)came down from the mountain, and I ^(BA)put the tablets in the ark which I had made; ^(BB)and they are there, just as the Lord commanded me.”

⁶ (Now the sons of Israel set out from ^[o]Beeroth ^(BC)Bene-jaakan to Moserah. ^(BD)There Aaron died and there he was buried, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place. ^7 (BE)From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. ^8 (BF)At that time the Lord singled out the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord ^(BG)to serve Him and to bless in His name, until this day. ^9 (BH)Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)

¹⁰ “^(BI)I, moreover, stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord was not willing to destroy you. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

¹² “^(BJ)And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to ^[p]fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and ^(BK)love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with ^(BL)all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? ¹⁴ Behold, ^(BM)to the Lord your God belong heaven and the ^[q]highest heavens, ^(BN)the earth and all that is in it. ^15 (BO)Yet the Lord set His affection on your fathers, to love them, and He chose their ^[r]descendants after them, you over all the other peoples, as it is this day. ^16 (BP)So circumcise ^[s]your heart, and do not ^(BQ)stiffen your neck any longer. ^17 (BR)For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the ^(BS)Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, ^(BT)who does not show partiality, nor ^(BU)take a bribe. ¹⁸ He executes justice for ^(BV)the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. ^19 (BW)So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and ^(BX)cling to Him, and ^(BY)you shall swear by His name. ²¹ He is ^(BZ)your glory and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. ^22 (CA)Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, ^(CB)and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Parable of the Sower

^4 (A)Now when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: ⁵ “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up. ⁶ Other seed fell on rocky soil, and when it came up, it withered away because it had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. ⁸ And yet other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as much.” As He said these things, He would call out, “^(B)The one who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

^9 (C)Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable ^[b]meant. ¹⁰ And He said, “^(D)To you it has been granted to know the ^[c]mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest they are told in parables, so that ^[d](E)while seeing they may not see, and ^[e]while hearing they may not understand.

¹¹ “Now this is the parable: ^(F)the seed is the word of God. ¹² And those beside the road are the ones who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky soil are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and yet these do not have a firm root; ^[f]they believe for a while, and in a time of temptation they ^[g]fall away. ¹⁴ And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked by worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵ But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word ^[h]with a good and virtuous heart, and hold it firmly, and produce fruit with ^[i]perseverance.

Parable of the Lamp

¹⁶ “Now ^(G)no one lights a lamp and covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see the light. ^17 (H)For nothing is concealed that will not become evident, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ So take care how you listen; ^(I)for whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he ^[j]thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

^19 (J)Now His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” ²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these ^(K)who hear the word of God and do it.”