Deuteronomy

9 Hear, O Israel! thou art passing to-day over the Jordan, to go in to dispossess nations, greater and stronger than thou,—cities great and fortified into the heavens;

2 a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim,—whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?

3 So then, thou must consider to-day that Yahweh thy God, he it is that is passing over before thee as a consuming fire, he will destroy them and he will cause them to bow down before thee,—so shalt thou dispossess them and destroy them speedily, as Yahweh hath spoken unto thee.

4 Do not speak in thy heart, when Yahweh thy God casteth them out from before thee, saying, For mine own righteousness hath Yahweh brought me in, to possess this land,—whereas it is for the lawlessness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing them from before thee.

5 Not for thine own righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thine own heart, art thou going in to possess their land,—but for the lawlessness of these nations is Yahweh thy God driving them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob.

6 So then, thou must consider that not for thine own righteousness is Yahweh thy God giving unto thee this good land to possess it,—for a stiff-necked people thou art.

7 Remember—do not forget, how thou didst provoke Yahweh thy God in the desert,—yea from the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye entered as far as this place, have ye been quarrelling with Yahweh.

8 Even in Horeb ye provoked Yahweh to wrath,—so that Yahweh showed himself angry with you to destroy you.

9 When I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone—the tables of the covenant, which Yahweh had solemnised with you, then abode I in the mountain forty days and forty nights, food did I not eat, and water did I not drink.

10 Then did Yahweh deliver unto me the two tables of stone, written with the finger of God,—and [there was] upon them according to all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the convocation.

11 So then it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave unto me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant.

12 Then said Yahweh unto me—Up! get down quickly out of this mountain, for thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have broken faith,—they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them,—they have made them a molten image.

13 And Yahweh spake unto me, saying,—I have looked on this people, and lo! a stiff-necked people it is.

14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and wipe out their name from under the heavens,—and make thee into a nation stronger and more in number than they.

15 So I turned and came down out of the mountain, now the mountain was burning with fire,—and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

16 Then looked I, and lo! ye had sinned against Yahweh your God, ye had made you a molten calf,—ye had turned aside quickly, out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.

17 So I seized the two tables, and cast them from off my two hands,—and brake them in pieces before your eyes.

18 Then lay I prostrate before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights, food did I not eat, and water did I not drink,—because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

19 For I shrank with fear from the face of the anger and the hot displeasure, wherewith Yahweh was provoked against you to destroy you,—but Yahweh hearkened unto me, even at that time.

20 And with Aaron did Yahweh show himself exceedingly angry to destroy him,—so I prostrated myself, even in behalf of Aaron at that time.

21 And your sin which ye had made, even the calf, took I and burned it up with fire, and pounded it very small, until it was fine as dust,—then cast I the dust thereof into the torrent that descended out of the mountain.

22 Also at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation became ye unto Yahweh.

23 Also when Yahweh sent you out of Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given unto you, then quarrelled ye with the bidding of Yahweh your God, and trusted him not, neither hearkened unto his voice.

24 Ye have been quarrelling with Yahweh,—from the day that I first knew you.

25 Thus, then, lay I prostrate before Yahweh the forty days and the forty nights that I did lie prostrate,—because Yahweh spake of destroying you.

26 Therefore I prostrated myself unto Yahweh, and said, My Lord Yahweh! Do not destroy thy people, even thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness,—which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a firm hand.

27 Have remembrance of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,—do not regard the obduracy of this people, or their lawlessness, or their sin:

28 lest the land out of which thou hast brought us forth say, Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land of which he had spoken to them,—and because he hated them, took he them forth to put them to death in the desert.

29 Yet, they are thy people and thine inheritance,—whom thou hast brought forth with thy great strength, and with thy stretched-out arm.