Deuteronomy 9
English Standard Version
Not Because of Righteousness
9 “Hear, O Israel: you are (A)to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations (B)greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, (C)the sons of the Anakim, (D)whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that he who (E)goes over before you (F)as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. (G)So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
4 (H)“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is (I)because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 (J)Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm (K)the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are (L)a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. (M)From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 Even (N)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9 (O)When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain (P)forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And (Q)the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire (R)on the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord said to me, (S)‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have (T)turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’
The Golden Calf
13 (U)“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is (V)a stubborn people. 14 (W)Let me alone, that I may destroy them and (X)blot out their name from under heaven. And (Y)I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 (Z)So I turned and came down from the mountain, and (AA)the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And (AB)I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden[a] calf. (AC)You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I (AD)lay prostrate before the Lord (AE)as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, (AF)in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. (AG)But the Lord listened to me that time also. 20 And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then (AH)I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
22 “At (AI)Taberah also, and at (AJ)Massah and at (AK)Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. 23 And (AL)when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and (AM)did not believe him or obey his voice. 24 (AN)You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
25 (AO)“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 (AP)And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, 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 regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, (AQ)“Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 (AR)For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 9:16 Hebrew cast metal
Deuteronomy 9
Common English Bible
Against false piety and immodesty
9 Listen, Israel! Today you will cross the Jordan River to enter and take possession of nations larger and more powerful than you, along with huge cities with fortifications that reach to the sky. 2 These people are large and tall—they are the Anakim. You know and have heard what people say: “Who can stand up to the Anakim?” 3 Know right now that the Lord your God, who is crossing over before you, is an all-consuming fire! He will wipe them out! He will subdue them before you! Then you will take possession of their land, eliminating them quickly, exactly as the Lord told you.
4 Once the Lord your God has driven them out before you, don’t think to yourself, It’s because I’m righteous that the Lord brought me in to possess this land. It is instead because of these nations’ wickedness that the Lord is removing them before you. 5 You aren’t entering and taking possession of their land because you are righteous or because your heart is especially virtuous; rather, it is because these nations are wicked—that’s why the Lord your God is removing them before you, and because he wishes to establish the promise he made to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Gold calf
6 Know then that the Lord your God isn’t giving you this excellent land for you to possess on account of your righteousness—because you are a stubborn people! 7 Remember—don’t ever forget!—how you made the Lord your God furious in the wilderness. From the very first day you stepped out of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebels against the Lord. 8 Even at Horeb you angered the Lord! He was so enraged by you that he threatened to wipe you out. 9 When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the covenant tablets that the Lord made with you, I was up there forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread, drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by God’s finger, and on them were all the words that the Lord had said to you on the mountain, out of the very fire itself, on the day we assembled. 11 At the end of those forty days and nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets—the covenant tablets. 12 Then the Lord said to me, “Get going! Get down from here quickly because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have ruined everything! They couldn’t wait to turn from the path I commanded them! They’ve made themselves an idol out of cast metal.”
13 The Lord said more to me: “I have seen this people. Look! What a stubborn people they are! 14 Now stand back. I am going to wipe them out. I will erase their name from under heaven, then I will make a nation out of you—one stronger and larger than they were.”
15 So I went down the mountain while it was blazing with fire. The two covenant tablets were in my two hands. 16 It was then that I saw how you sinned against the Lord your God: you made yourselves a calf, an idol made of cast metal! You couldn’t wait to turn from the path the Lord commanded you! 17 I grabbed the two tablets and threw them down with my own hands, shattering them while you watched. 18 Then I fell before the Lord as I had done the previous forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water, all because of the sin that you had committed by doing such evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating him. 19 I was afraid of the massive anger and rage the Lord had for you—he was going to wipe you out! However, the Lord listened to me again in that moment.
20 But the Lord was furious with Aaron—he was going to wipe him out! So I also prayed hard for Aaron at that time. 21 And as for that sinful thing you made, that calf, I took it and I burned it with fire. Then I smashed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust. Then I dumped the dust into the stream that ran down the mountain.
22 Also at Taberah, again at Massah, and then again at Kibroth-hattaavah, you have been the kind of people who make the Lord angry. 23 And then, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, telling you: “Go up and take possession of the land that I’m giving you,” you disobeyed the Lord your God’s command. You didn’t trust him. You didn’t obey God’s voice. 24 You’ve been rebellious toward the Lord from the day I[a] met you.
Moses’ intercessory prayer
25 But I fell on my knees in the Lord’s presence forty days and forty nights, lying flat out, because the Lord planned on wiping you out. 26 But I prayed to the Lord! I said: Lord, my Lord! Don’t destroy your people, your own possession, whom you saved by your own power, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand! 27 Remember your servants: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Don’t focus on this people’s stubbornness, wickedness, and sin. 28 Otherwise, that land out of which you brought us will say: The Lord wasn’t strong enough to bring them into the land he’d promised them. Because he didn’t care for them in the least, he brought them out to die in the desert. 29 But these are your people! Your own possession! The people you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm!
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 9:24 LXX, Sam he (God) met you
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible