Deuteronomy 9
9
The People's Disobedience
(Ex 32.1–35)
1“Listen, people of Israel! Today you are about to cross the River Jordan and occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you. Their cities are large, with walls that reach the sky. 2The people themselves are tall and strong; they are giants, and you have heard it said that no one can stand against them. 3But now you will see for yourselves that the LORD your God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.
4“After the LORD your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the LORD is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked. 5It is not because you are good and do what is right that the LORD is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6You can be sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.
7“Never forget how you made the LORD your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him. 8Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD angry — angry enough to destroy you. 9#Ex 24.18I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. 10Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain. 11Yes, after those forty days and nights the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant.
12“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.’
13“The LORD also said to me, ‘I know how stubborn these people are. 14Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’
15“So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain. 16I saw that you had already disobeyed the command that the LORD your God had given you, and that you had sinned against him by making yourselves a metal idol in the form of a bull calf. 17So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces. 18Then once again I lay face downwards in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. I did this because you had sinned against the LORD and had made him angry. 19#Heb 12.21I was afraid of the LORD's fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again the LORD listened to me. 20The LORD was also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21I took that sinful thing that you had made — that metal bull calf — and threw it into the fire. Then I broke it in pieces, ground it to dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.
22 #
Num 11.3, 34; Ex 17.7 “You also made the LORD your God angry when you were at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah. 23#Num 13.25—14.38; Deut 1.21, 26; Heb 3.16And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him. 24Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against the LORD.
25“So I lay face downwards in the LORD's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you. 26And I prayed, ‘Sovereign LORD, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power. 27Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people. 28Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them. 29After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.’
Currently Selected:
Deuteronomy 9: GNBDC
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Deuteronomy 9
9
1‘Hear, Israel, thou art passing over to-day the Jordan, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself; cities great and fenced in the heavens;
2a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom thou — thou hast known, (and thou — thou hast heard: Who doth station himself before sons of Anak?)
3and thou hast known to-day, that Jehovah thy God [is] He who is passing over before thee — a fire consuming; He doth destroy them, and He doth humble them before thee, and thou hast dispossessed them, and destroyed them hastily, as Jehovahhath spoken to thee.
4‘Thou dost not speak in thy heart (in Jehovah thy God's driving them away from before thee), saying, For my righteousness hath Jehovah brought me in to possess this land, seeing for the wickedness of these nations is Jehovah dispossessing them from thy presence;
5not for thy righteousness, and for the uprightness of thy heart, art thou going in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations is Jehovah thy God dispossessing them from before thee; and in order to establish the word which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;
6and thou hast known, that not for thy righteousness is Jehovah thy God giving to thee this good land to possess it, for a people stiff of neck thou [art].
7‘Remember — do not forget — that [with] which thou hast made Jehovah thy God wroth in the wilderness; even from the day that thou hast come out of the land of Egypt till your coming in unto this place rebels ye have been with Jehovah;
8even in Horeb ye have made Jehovah wroth, and Jehovah sheweth Himself angry against you — to destroy you.
9‘In my going up into the mount to receive the tables of stone (tables of the covenant which Jehovah hath made with you), and I abide in the mount forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk;
10and Jehovah giveth unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them according to all the words which Jehovah hath spoken with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.
11‘And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, Jehovah hath given unto me the two tables of stone — tables of the covenant,
12and Jehovah saith unto me, Rise, go down, hasten from this, for thy people hath done corruptly, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt; they have turned aside hastily out of the way which I have commanded them — they have made to themselves a molten thing!
13‘And Jehovah speaketh unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and lo, a people stiff of neck it [is];
14desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make thee become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.
15‘And I turn, and come down from the mount, and the mount is burning with fire, and the two tables of the covenant on my two hands,
16and I see, and lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah your God; ye have made to yourselves a molten calf; ye have turned aside hastily out of the way which Jehovah hath commanded you.
17‘And I lay hold on the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes,
18and I throw myself before Jehovah, as at first, forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk, because of all your sins which ye have sinned, by doing the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to make Him angry.
19‘For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which Jehovah hath been wroth against you, to destroy you; and Jehovah doth hearken unto me also at this time.
20‘And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time;
21and your sin, which ye have made — the calf — I have taken, and I burn it with fire, and beat it, grinding well till that it [is] small as dust, and I cast its dust unto the brook which is going down out of the mount.
22‘And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth-Hattaavah, ye have been making Jehovah wroth:
23and in Jehovah's sending you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up, and possess the land which I have given to you, then ye provoke the mouth of Jehovah your God, and have not given credence to Him, nor hearkened to His voice;
24rebels ye have been with Jehovah from the day of my knowing you.
25‘And I throw myself before Jehovah, the forty days and the forty nights, as I had thrown myself, for Jehovah hath said — to destroy you;
26and I pray unto Jehovah, and say, Lord Jehovah, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast ransomed in Thy greatness; whom Thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand;
27be mindful of Thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, turn not unto the stiffness of this people, and unto its wickedness, and unto its sin;
28lest the land say from which Thou hast brought us out, Because of Jehovah's want of ability to bring them in unto the land of which He hath spoken to them, and because of His hating them, He brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness;
29and they [are] Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast brought out by Thy great power, and by Thy stretched-out arm!
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society