Deuteronomy 9

Not by Their Righteousness Deuteronomy 9:4–6

⁴Verse 4. Don’t say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land”; because Yahweh drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations. ⁵Verse 5. Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ⁶Verse 6. Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

Rebellion in the Wilderness Deuteronomy 9:7–9

⁷Verse 7. Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. ⁸Verse 8. Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you. ⁹Verse 9. When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

The Covenant Tablets Deuteronomy 9:10–14

¹⁰Verse 10. Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly. ¹¹Verse 11. It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant. ¹²Verse 12. Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”

¹³Verse 13. Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁴Verse 14. Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”

Breaking the Tablets Deuteronomy 9:15–21

¹⁵Verse 15. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶Verse 16. I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. ¹⁷Verse 17. I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸Verse 18. I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹Verse 19. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. ²⁰Verse 20. Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹Verse 21. I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

Continued Rebellion Deuteronomy 9:22–24

²²Verse 22. At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath. ²³Verse 23. When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn’t believe him, nor listen to his voice. ²⁴Verse 24. You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.

Moses' Intercession Deuteronomy 9:25–29

²⁵Verse 25. So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. ²⁶Verse 26. I prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷Verse 27. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin, ²⁸Verse 28. lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

²⁹Verse 29. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”