Deuteronomy 9:1-12

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.'

Deuteronomy 9:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 9

In this chapter the Israelites are assured of the ejection of the Canaanites, though so great and mighty, to make room for them, De 9:1-3, and they are cautioned not to attribute this to their own righteousness, but to the wickedness of the nations which deserved to be so treated, and to the faithfulness of God in performing his promise made to their fathers, De 9:4-6, and that it might appear that it could not be owing to their righteousness, it is affirmed and proved that they had been a rebellious and provoking people from their coming out of Egypt to that time, as was evident from their idolatry at Horeb; a particular account of which is given, and of the displeasure of the Lord at it, De 9:7-21, and of their murmurings, with which they provoked the Lord at other places, De 9:22-24, and the chapter is closed with an account of the prayer of Moses for them at Horeb, to avert the wrath of God from them for their making and worshipping the golden calf, De 9:25-29.

Cross References

• 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]