Deuteronomy 9
Christian Standard Bible
Warning against Self-Righteousness
9 “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and drive out nations greater and stronger than you,(A) with large cities fortified to the heavens.(B) 2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim.(C) You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?’ (D) 3 But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you(E) as a consuming fire;(F) he will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly,(G) as the Lord has told you. 4 When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’(H) Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.(I) 5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land(J) to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.(K)
Israel’s Rebellion and Moses’s Intercession
7 “Remember(L) and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place. 8 You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant(M) the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water. 10 On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger.(N) The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.(O) 11 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.
12 “The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’(P) 13 The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven.(Q) Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’
15 “So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 16 I saw how you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord had commanded for you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.(R) 18 I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and angering him. 19 I was afraid of the fierce anger the Lord had directed against you,(S) because he was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.(T) 20 The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also. 21 I took the sinful calf you had made and burned it. I crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust, and threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.(U)
22 “You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.(V) 23 When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, he said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not believe or obey him.(W) 24 You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have[a] known you.(X)
25 “I fell down in the presence of the Lord forty days and forty nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you. 26 I prayed to the Lord:
Lord God, do not annihilate your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed(Y) through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin. 28 Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’(Z) 29 But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.(AA)
Footnotes
- 9:24 Sam, LXX read since he has
Deuteronomy 9
King James Version
9 Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.
4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.
5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.
8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you.
9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
10 And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
12 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
13 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.
17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also.
20 And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath.
23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
24 Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.
26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
申命记 9
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
以色列人的悖逆
9 “以色列人啊，你们要听！今天你们要过约旦河，去赶出那些比你们强大的民族。他们住在城墙高耸入云的大城里， 2 是长得高大威猛的亚衲人。你们了解他们，也听人说过，‘谁能抵挡亚衲人呢？’ 3 但今天你们要知道，你们的上帝耶和华要走在你们前面，像烈火一样吞噬他们。祂要制服他们，使你们迅速赶走他们，毁灭他们，正如祂对你们的应许。
4 “你们的上帝耶和华赶走他们以后，你们不要以为耶和华带领你们占领那片土地是因为你们公义，其实是因为那里的民族邪恶，耶和华才将他们从你们面前赶走。 5 你们能占领他们的土地并非因为你们公义、行为正直。你们的上帝耶和华从你们面前赶走那些民族，是因为他们邪恶，也是为了实现祂给你们祖先亚伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的誓言。 6 你们要知道，耶和华赐给你们那佳美之地不是因为你们有好品德。其实你们是顽固不化的人。
7 “要牢记你们在旷野怎样触怒你们的上帝耶和华。从你们离开埃及那天到现在，你们屡屡背叛耶和华。 8 在何烈山，你们触怒了耶和华，以致祂要毁灭你们。 9 那时，我上山去接受耶和华与你们立约的石版，在山上待了四十昼夜，不吃也不喝。 10 耶和华把两块立约的石版交给我，上面刻着那天你们聚会时祂在山上的火焰中对你们说的话，是祂用手指刻上去的。 11 四十昼夜后，耶和华把那两块刻着约的石版交给我， 12 对我说，‘快下山吧，你从埃及领出来的百姓已经败坏了。他们这么快就偏离了我吩咐他们走的道，为自己铸造了神像。’
13 “耶和华又对我说，‘我已看出，这是顽固不化的百姓。 14 不要拦我，我要毁灭他们，从世上抹去他们的名字。我要使你的子孙成为一个比他们更强大的民族。’ 15 我双手拿着那两块石版，转身从烈火熊熊的山上下来， 16 看见你们为自己铸造了牛犊像，得罪了你们的上帝耶和华，这么快就偏离了耶和华吩咐你们走的道， 17 就当着你们的面摔碎了那两块石版。
18 “我又俯伏在耶和华面前，四十昼夜不吃不喝，因为你们犯了大罪，做耶和华憎恶的事，惹祂发怒。 19 耶和华向你们发烈怒，要毁灭你们，我非常惧怕。但耶和华再次垂听了我的祈求。 20 耶和华对亚伦非常愤怒，以致要杀掉他，于是我也为他祈求。 21 我焚烧了你们铸造的罪恶之物——牛犊像，把它磨成细粉，撒在从山上流下来的溪水中。
22 “你们在他备拉、玛撒和基博罗·哈他瓦三番四次地触怒耶和华。 23 你们的上帝耶和华吩咐你们离开加低斯·巴尼亚，去占领祂赐给你们的土地，你们却背叛祂，不信靠祂，也不听从祂。 24 自从我认识你们以来，你们就不断地背叛耶和华。
25 “因为耶和华说要毁灭你们，我就俯伏在耶和华面前四十昼夜， 26 向祂祈求说，‘主耶和华啊，求你不要毁灭你的子民！他们是你的产业，是你用大能的手从埃及拯救出来的。 27 求你看在你仆人亚伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的份上，不要计较这个民族的顽固和罪恶， 28 免得你带领我们离开之地的人说，你不能把他们领到你应许给他们的地方，你憎恶他们，所以把他们带到旷野杀了。 29 他们毕竟是你的子民，你的产业，是你伸出大能的臂膀从埃及带出来的。’
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
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