Deuteronomy 9

Chapter 9

Victory by God’s Grace

1 “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky!2 The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’

3 But recognize today that the LORD your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the LORD has promised.
4 “After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way.5 It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 You must recognize that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.

Remembering the Gold Calf

7 “Remember and never forget how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have been constantly rebelling against him.8 Even at Mount Sinait you made the LORD so angry he was ready to destroy you.9 This happened when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the words of the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate no food and drank no water.

10 The LORD gave me the two tablets on which God had written with his own finger all the words he had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were assembled at the mountain.
11 “At the end of the forty days and nights, the LORD handed me the two stone tablets inscribed with the words of the covenant.

12 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Get up! Go down immediately, for the people you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted gold and made an idol for themselves!’
13 “The LORD also said to me, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.

14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’
15 “So while the mountain was blazing with fire I turned and came down, holding in my hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.16 There below me I could see that you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had melted gold and made a calf idol for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away from the path the LORD had commanded you to follow!

17 So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.
18 “Then, as before, I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin you had committed by doing what the LORD hated, provoking him to anger.19 I feared that the furious anger of the LORD, which turned him against you, would drive him to destroy you. But again he listened to me.20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him, too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the LORD spared him.

21 I took your sin—the calf you had made—and I melted it down in the fire and ground it into fine dust. Then I threw the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.
22 “You also made the LORD angry at Taberah,t Massah,t and Kibroth-hattaavah.t23 And at Kadesh-barnea the LORD sent you out with this command: ‘Go up and take over the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him.

24 Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you.
25 “That is why I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights—for the LORD said he would destroy you.26 I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand.27 Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the LORD wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.”

29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’

DEUTERONOMY 9

Why the [Lord] //Will Help Israel

Moses said:

1 Israel, listen to me! You will soon cross the Jordan River and go into the land to force out the nations that live there. They are more powerful than you are, and the walls around their cities reach to the sky. 2 Some of these nations are descendants of the Anakim.t You know how tall and strong they are, and you've heard that no one can defeat them in battle.

3 But the [Lord] your God has promised to go ahead of you, like a raging fire burning everything in its path. So when you attack your enemies, it will be easy for you to destroy them and take their land.

4-6 After the [Lord] helps you wipe out these nations and conquer their land, don't think he did it because you are such good people. You aren't good—you are stubborn! No, the [Lord] is going to help you, because the nations that live there are evil, and because he wants to keep the promise he made to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When Israel //Made an Idol

(Exodus 32)

Moses said to Israel:

7 Don't ever forget how you kept rebelling and making the [Lord] angry the whole time you were in the desert. You rebelled from the day you left Egypt until the day you arrived here.
8 At Mount Sinait you made the [Lord] so angry that he was going to destroy you. 9-11 t It happened during those 40 days and nights that I was on the mountain, without anything to eat or drink. He had told me to come up there so he could give me the agreement he made with us. And this agreement was actually the same Ten Commandmentst he had announced to you when he spoke from the fire on the mountain. The [Lord] had written them on two flat stones with his own hand. But after giving me the two stones,

12 he said:
Moses, hurry down the mountain to those people you led out of Egypt. They have already disobeyed me and committed the terrible sin of making an idol.
13 I've been watching the Israelites, and I've seen how stubborn and rebellious they are.

14 So don't try to stop me! I am going to wipe them out, and no one on earth will remember they ever lived. Then I will let your descendants become an even bigger and more powerful nation than Israel.

Moses said:

17 So I threw down the two stones and smashed them before your very eyes.

18-20 I bowed down at the place of worship and prayed to the [Lord], without eating or drinking for 40 days and nights. You had committed a terrible sin by making that idol, and the [Lord] hated what you had done. He was angry enough to destroy all of you and Aaron as well. So I prayed for you and Aaron as I had done before, and this time the [Lord] answered my prayers.t

21 It was a sin for you to make that idol, so I threw it into the fire to melt it down. Then I took the lump of gold, ground it into powder, and threw the powder into the stream flowing down the mountain.
22  t You also made the [Lord] angry when you were staying at Taberah, t at Massah, t and at Kibroth-Hattaavah.t 23 t Then at Kadesh-Barnea the [Lord] said, “I am giving you the land, so go ahead and take it!” But since you didn't trust the [Lord], you rebelled and disobeyed his command.t

24 In fact, you've rebelled against the [Lord] for as long as he hast known you.
25 After you had made the idol in the shape of a calf, the [Lord] said he was going to destroy you. So I lay face down in front of the [Lord] for 40 days and nights

26 and prayed:
Our [Lord], please don't wipe out your people. You used your great power to rescue them from Egypt and to make them your very own. 27 Israel's ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob obeyed you faithfully. Think about them, and not about Israel's stubbornness, evil, and sin. 28 If you destroy your people, the Egyptians will say, “The [Lord] promised to give Israel land, but he wasn't powerful enough to keep his promise. In fact, he hated them so much that he took them into the desert and killed them.” 29 But you, our [Lord], chose the people of Israel to be your own, and with your mighty power you rescued them from Egypt.