Deuteronomy 9:25

25 "So I fell down before ADONAI for those forty days and nights; and I lay there; because ADONAI had said he would destroy you.

Deuteronomy 9:25 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:25

Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights,
as I fell down at the first
Which Jarchi says are the selfsame said above, ( Deuteronomy 9:18 ) , but doubled or repeated, because of the order of his prayer. The words "at the first" are not in the text; and, as before observed, we do not read that Moses fell down at the first forty days he was in the mount, unless it can be thought he did, ( Exodus 32:11 ) , wherefore this falling down seems to be as he fell down at the second forty days; and so this was a third forty days, according to the Jewish writers, and of which opinion were Dr. Lightfoot and others; (See Gill on Exodus 34:28),

because the Lord had said he would destroy you;
threatened them with destruction, and seemed as if it was his intention to destroy them; nay, even after Moses's first prayer, though he bid him go and lead the people on, yet he declared that he would visit their sin upon them, ( Exodus 32:34 ) .

Deuteronomy 9:25 In-Context

23 and when ADONAI sent you off from Kadesh-Barnea by saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,' you rebelled against the order of ADONAI your God - you neither trusted him nor heeded what he said.

24 You have been rebelling against ADONAI from the day I first knew you!

25 "So I fell down before ADONAI for those forty days and nights; and I lay there; because ADONAI had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed to ADONAI ; I said, 'Adonai ELOHIM! Don't destroy your people, your inheritance! You redeemed them through your greatness, you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand!

27 Remember your servants Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov! Don't focus on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or on their sin.