Deuteronomy 9:5-24

5 ¹Not 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 ²the 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 ³a stubborn people.

7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. ⁴From 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 ⁵at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

9 ⁶When 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 ⁷forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

10 And ⁸the 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 ⁹on 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, ¹⁰'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have ¹¹turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.'

The Golden Calf

13 ¹²"Furthermore, the LORD said to me, 'I have seen this people, and behold, it is ¹³a stubborn people.

14 ¹⁴Let me alone, that I may destroy them and ¹⁵blot out their name from under heaven. And ¹⁶I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

15 ¹⁷So I turned and came down from the mountain, and ¹⁸the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And ¹⁹I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden^[a] calf. ²⁰You 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 ²¹lay prostrate before the LORD ²²as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, ²³in 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. ²⁴But 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 ²⁵I 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 ²⁶Taberah also, and at ²⁷Massah and at ²⁸Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

23 And ²⁹when 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 ³⁰did not believe him or obey his voice.

24 ³¹You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

Read Chapter Compare

Deuteronomy 9:5-24 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 31

1. [Titus 3:5]
2. See Genesis 50:24
3. Deuteronomy 10:16
4. 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]
5. Exodus 32:4; Psalms 106:19
6. Exodus 24:12, 15
7. Exodus 24:18; Exodus 34:28; [1 Kings 19:8; Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:1, 2]
8. Exodus 31:18
9. Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 10:4; Deuteronomy 18:16; Exodus 19:17
10. Exodus 32:7, 8
11. [Deuteronomy 31:29; Judges 2:17]
12. Exodus 32:9
13. [See ver. 6 above]
14. Exodus 32:10
15. Deuteronomy 7:24; Deuteronomy 25:19; Deuteronomy 29:20; Exodus 17:14
16. Numbers 14:12
17. Exodus 32:15
18. Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 5:23; Exodus 19:18
19. Exodus 32:19
20. [Deuteronomy 31:29; Judges 2:17]
21. Exodus 34:28; [Psalms 106:23]
22. ver. 9; Deuteronomy 10:10
23. Deuteronomy 4:25
24. Deuteronomy 10:10; Exodus 32:14; Exodus 33:17
25. Exodus 32:20
26. Numbers 11:1-3
27. Exodus 17:7
28. Numbers 11:34
29. Numbers 13:3; Numbers 14:1-4
30. Psalms 106:24, 25
31. ver. 7; Deuteronomy 31:27

Footnotes 1

[a]. Hebrew cast-metal

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