Deuteronomy 9:17-27

17 So I took the two stone tablets and threw them down, breaking them into pieces right in front of you.

18 Then I again bowed facedown on the ground before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread or drink water. You had sinned by doing what the Lord said was evil, and you made him angry.

19 I was afraid of the Lord's anger and rage, because he was angry enough with you to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me again.

20 And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but then I prayed for Aaron, too.

21 I took that sinful calf idol you had made and burned it in the fire. I crushed it into a powder like dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

22 You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah.

23 Then the Lord sent you away from Kadesh Barnea and said, "Go up and take the land I have given you." But you rejected the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or obey him.

24 You have refused to obey the Lord as long as I have known you.

25 The Lord had said he would destroy you, so I threw myself down in front of him for those forty days and forty nights.

26 I prayed to the Lord and said, "Lord God, do not destroy your people, your own people, whom you freed and brought out of Egypt by your great power and strength.

27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don't look at how stubborn these people are, and don't look at their sin and evil.

Deuteronomy 9:17-27 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.