Deuteronomy 9

Listen to Deuteronomy 9

Not Because of Righteousness

1 "Hear, O Israel: you are 1to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations 2greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
2 a people great and tall, 3the sons of the Anakim, 4whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'
3 Know therefore today that he who 5goes over before you 6as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. 7So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
4 8"Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is 9because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.
5 10Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm 11the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 "Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are 12a stubborn people.
7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. 13From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
8 Even 14at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
9 15When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain 16forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
10 And 17the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire 18on the day of the assembly.
11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 Then the LORD said to me, 19'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have 20turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.'

The Golden Calf

13 21"Furthermore, the LORD said to me, 'I have seen this people, and behold, it is 22a stubborn people.
14 23Let me alone, that I may destroy them and 24blot out their name from under heaven. And 25I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'
15 26So I turned and came down from the mountain, and 27the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And 28I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden[a] calf. 29You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.
17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
18 Then I 30lay prostrate before the LORD 31as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, 32in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger.
19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. 33But the LORD listened to me that time also.
20 And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
21 Then 34I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
22 "At 35Taberah also, and at 36Massah and at 37Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.
23 And 38when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and 39did not believe him or obey his voice.
24 40You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
25 41"So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
26 42And I prayed to the LORD, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,
28 lest the land from which you brought us say, 43"Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness."
29 44For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.'

Cross References 44

  • 1. Deuteronomy 11:31; Deuteronomy 12:10; Joshua 1:11
  • 2. See Deuteronomy 4:38
  • 3. See Numbers 13:22
  • 4. Deuteronomy 1:28
  • 5. Deuteronomy 31:3; [Joshua 3:11]
  • 6. See Deuteronomy 4:24
  • 7. Deuteronomy 7:24; Exodus 23:29-31
  • 8. [Deuteronomy 8:17]
  • 9. Deuteronomy 18:12; Leviticus 18:24, 25; Leviticus 20:23; [Deuteronomy 20:18]
  • 10. [Titus 3:5]
  • 11. See Genesis 50:24
  • 12. Deuteronomy 10:16
  • 13. ver. 24; Deuteronomy 31:27; [Exodus 14:11; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2; Exodus 17:2; Numbers 11:4; Numbers 14:2, 11, 41; Numbers 20:2; Numbers 21:5; Numbers 25:2]
  • 14. Exodus 32:4; Psalms 106:19
  • 15. Exodus 24:12, 15
  • 16. Exodus 24:18; Exodus 34:28; [1 Kings 19:8; Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:1, 2]
  • 17. Exodus 31:18
  • 18. Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 10:4; Deuteronomy 18:16; Exodus 19:17
  • 19. Exodus 32:7, 8
  • 20. [Deuteronomy 31:29; Judges 2:17]
  • 21. Exodus 32:9
  • 22. [See ver. 6 above]
  • 23. Exodus 32:10
  • 24. Deuteronomy 7:24; Deuteronomy 25:19; Deuteronomy 29:20; Exodus 17:14
  • 25. Numbers 14:12
  • 26. Exodus 32:15
  • 27. Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 5:23; Exodus 19:18
  • 28. Exodus 32:19
  • 29. [Deuteronomy 31:29; Judges 2:17]
  • 30. Exodus 34:28; [Psalms 106:23]
  • 31. ver. 9; Deuteronomy 10:10
  • 32. Deuteronomy 4:25
  • 33. Deuteronomy 10:10; Exodus 32:14; Exodus 33:17
  • 34. Exodus 32:20
  • 35. Numbers 11:1-3
  • 36. Exodus 17:7
  • 37. Numbers 11:34
  • 38. Numbers 13:3; Numbers 14:1-4
  • 39. Psalms 106:24, 25
  • 40. ver. 7; Deuteronomy 31:27
  • 41. [See ver. 18 above]
  • 42. See Exodus 32:11-13
  • 43. Numbers 14:16
  • 44. Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Nehemiah 1:10; [Psalms 95:7]

Footnotes 1

Deuteronomy 9 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.