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Deuteronomy 9:7-24
Christian Standard Bible

Israel’s Rebellion and Moses’s Intercession

7 “Remember(A) 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(B) 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.(C) The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.(D) 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.’(E) 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.(F) 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.(G) 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,(H) because he was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.(I) 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.(J)

22 “You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.(K) 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.(L) 24 You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have[a] known you.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 9:24 Sam, LXX read since he has
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Deuteronomy 9:7-24
New English Translation

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

7 Remember—don’t ever forget[a]—how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.[b] 8 At Horeb you provoked him 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 that the Lord made with you, I remained there[c] forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger[d] of God, and on them was everything[e] he[f] said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.”[g] 13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn[h] lot! 14 Stand aside[i] and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory,[j] and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it[k] was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 16 When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf;[l] you had quickly turned aside from the way he[m] had commanded you! 17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down,[n] and shattered them before your very eyes. 18 Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him. 19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger[o] that threatened to destroy you. But he[p] listened to me this time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him[q] too. 21 As for your sinful thing[r] that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down,[s] ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah,[t] Massah,[u] and Kibroth Hattaavah.[v] 23 And when he[w] sent you from Kadesh Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God[x] and would neither believe nor obey him. 24 You have been rebelling against him[y] from the very first day I knew you!

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:7 tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (ʾal tishkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
  2. Deuteronomy 9:7 tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3.
  3. Deuteronomy 9:9 tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  4. Deuteronomy 9:10 sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself—not Moses in any way—was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).
  5. Deuteronomy 9:10 tn Heb “according to all the words.”
  6. Deuteronomy 9:10 tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.
  7. Deuteronomy 9:12 tc Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some mss and Smr add עֵגֶל (ʿegel, “calf”), “a molten calf” or the like (Exod 32:8). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.
  8. Deuteronomy 9:13 tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.
  9. Deuteronomy 9:14 tn Heb “leave me alone.”
  10. Deuteronomy 9:14 tn Heb “from under heaven.”
  11. Deuteronomy 9:15 tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  12. Deuteronomy 9:16 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
  13. Deuteronomy 9:16 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  14. Deuteronomy 9:17 tn The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
  15. Deuteronomy 9:19 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” Although many English versions translate as two terms, this construction is a hendiadys which serves to intensify the emotion (cf. NAB, TEV “fierce anger”).
  16. Deuteronomy 9:19 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  17. Deuteronomy 9:20 tn Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
  18. Deuteronomy 9:21 tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
  19. Deuteronomy 9:21 tn Heb “burned it with fire.”
  20. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (baʿar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the Lord’s fiery wrath against Israel because of their constant complaints against him (Num 11:1-3).
  21. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.
  22. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn Kibroth Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).
  23. Deuteronomy 9:23 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  24. Deuteronomy 9:23 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
  25. Deuteronomy 9:24 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
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