Deuteronomy 9:19

19 For {I was in dread} from [being in] the presence of the anger and the wrath [with] which Yahweh was angry with you [so as] to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me also {at that time}.

Deuteronomy 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:19

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure wherewith
the Lord was wroth against you
Which was exceeding vehement, as appeared by his words to Moses, forbidding to intercede for them, that he might consume them, and make of him a greater nation; wherefore he dreaded the issue of it, lest it should be

to destroy you;
that that should be his full resolution and determination; however, he made use of means, and betook himself to fasting and prayer; so heartily affected was he to this people when his temptations lay another way:

but the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also;
as he had at other times, when this people had sinned, and he entreated for them; in which he was a type of Christ, the Mediator and Advocate, whom the Father always hears.

Deuteronomy 9:19 In-Context

17 And I took hold of the two tablets, and I threw them out {of} my two hands and smashed them before your eyes.

18 And [then] I lay prostrate {before} Yahweh, as earlier, forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food and I did not drink water because of all your sins that you committed, by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh [and so] provoking him.

19 For {I was in dread} from [being in] the presence of the anger and the wrath [with] which Yahweh was angry with you [so as] to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me also {at that time}.

20 And with Aaron Yahweh was {angry enough} to destroy him, and I prayed also for Aaron at that time.

21 And your sinful thing that you had made, the molten calf, I took and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was crushed to dust, and I threw its dust into {the stream that flowed down the mountain}.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "I dreaded"
• [b]. Literally "the occurrence the that"