Add parallel Print Page Options

Remember the Lord’s Anger

Remember this and do not forget it: You made the Lord your God angry in the ·desert [wilderness]. You ·would not obey [rebelled against] the Lord from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here. At ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; 1:6] you made the Lord angry—angry enough to destroy you [Ex. 32]. When I went up on the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] the Lord had ·made [L cut] with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread or drink water. 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets, which God had written on with his own finger [C the Ten Commandments; Ex. 20:2–17; 31:18]. On them were all the commands that the Lord gave to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day ·you were gathered there [of the assembly].

11 When the forty days and forty nights were over, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] on them. 12 Then the Lord told me, “Get up and go down quickly from here, because the people you brought out from Egypt are ·ruining [corrupting] themselves. They have quickly turned away from ·what [L the way] I commanded and have made an idol for themselves [C a golden calf; Ex. 32:3–4].”

13 The Lord said to me, “I have watched these people, and they are very ·stubborn [L stiff-necked]! 14 Get away so that I may destroy them and ·make the whole world forget who they are [L blot off their name from under heaven]. Then I will make another nation from you that will be bigger and stronger than they are.”

15 So I turned and came down the mountain that was burning with fire, and the two stone tablets with the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] were in my hands. 16 When I looked, I saw you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made an idol in the shape of a calf. You had quickly turned away from ·what [L the way] the Lord had ·told [commanded] you to do. 17 So I took the two stone tablets and threw them down, breaking them into pieces ·right in front of you [L before your eyes; Ex. 32:19].

18 Then I ·again [as before/formerly] bowed facedown on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread or drink water. You had sinned by doing what the Lord said was evil, and you made him angry. 19 I was afraid of the Lord’s anger and rage, because he was angry enough with you to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me ·again [L at that time]. 20 And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but then I prayed for Aaron, too. 21 I took that sinful calf idol you had made and burned it in the fire. I crushed it into a powder like dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain [Ex. 32:20].

22 You also made the Lord angry at Taberah [Num. 11:3], Massah [Ex. 17:7], and Kibroth Hattaavah [Num. 11:34].

23 Then the Lord sent you away from Kadesh Barnea and said, “Go up and ·take [possess] the land I have given you.” But you ·rejected [rebelled against] the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or ·obey him [L listen to his voice; Num. 13–14]. 24 You have ·refused to obey [rebelled against] the Lord as long as I have[a] known you.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:24 I have Hebrew copies read “I have.” Greek copies and the Samaritan Pentateuch have “he has.”

Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness; (A)from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even (B)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to anger, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. 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; (C)I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone (D)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 (E)at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 (F)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 (G)quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.’ 13 The (H)Lord also said to [a]me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a [b](I)stubborn people. 14 (J)Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and (K)wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15 (L)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 (M)Then I fell down before the Lord (N)like the first time, for forty days and nights; (O)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (P)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 (Q)I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; (R)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 (S)And I took your [c]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 (T)Taberah, at (U)Massah, and at (V)Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking the Lord to anger. 23 And when the Lord sent you from (W)Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘(X)Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the [d]command of the Lord your God; (Y)you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice. 24 (Z)You have been rebellious toward the Lord since the day I knew you.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit me, saying
  2. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit stiff-necked
  3. Deuteronomy 9:21 Lit sin
  4. Deuteronomy 9:23 Lit mouth