Deuteronomy 9

1 Hear thou, Israel; thou shalt pass (the) Jordan today, that thou wield the most nations, and stronger than thou; great cities, and walled till to heaven; (Hear, O Israel; thou shalt cross over the Jordan River today, to take over nations greater and stronger than thou; yea, great cities, that be walled unto the heavens;)
2 a great people, and high; the sons of Anakim, which thyself hast seen, and heard, which no man may against-stand in the contrary part. (a great and tall people; the sons of the Anakim, that is, the giants, whom thou hast seen, and heard, and whom no one can stand against.)
3 Therefore thou shalt know today that thy Lord God himself shall pass before thee; he is a fire devouring and wasting, that shall all-break them, and he shall do them away, and destroy them before thy face swiftly, as he spake to thee. (And so know thou today that the Lord thy God himself shall go ahead of thee; he is a devouring and wasting fire, and he shall all-break them before thy face, and then ye shall do them away, and swiftly destroy them, as he promised thee.)
4 Say thou not in thine heart, when thy Lord God hath done them away in thy sight, For my rightwiseness the Lord hath brought me in hither, that I should wield the land; since these nations be done away for their wickednesses. (But when the Lord thy God hath done them away before thee, do not thou say in thy heart, Because of my righteousness, the Lord hath brought me here, so that I could take this land; since these nations shall be done away because of their own wickednesses.)
5 For not for thy rightwiseness, and for the equity of thine heart thou shalt enter, that thou wield their land; but for they did wickedly, they were done away (by thy Lord God), when thou enteredest, and that the Lord should [ful]fill his word which he promised under an oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (For it is not because of thy own righteousness, or the integrity of thy own heart, that thou shalt enter to take their land; but they shall be done away before thee by the Lord thy God, because they did wickedly, and so that the Lord would fulfill his word which he promised under an oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.)
6 Therefore know thou that not for thy rightwisenesses thy Lord God hath given to thee this best land into possession, since thou art a people of most hard noll. (And so know thou that the Lord thy God hath not given thee this best land for a possession because of thy own righteousness, since thou art a most stubborn, or a stiff-necked, people.)
7 Have thou (in) mind, and forget not (Remember, and do not forget), how in the wilderness thou stirredest thy Lord God to great wrath; (and) from that day in which thou wentest out of Egypt till to this place, thou hast striven ever[more] against the Lord.
8 For why also in Horeb, thou stirredest him (to wrath), and he was wroth, and would have done thee away, (Yea, also at Mount Sinai, thou stirredest him to anger, and he was so angry that he would have done thee away;)
9 and when I went up into the hill, that I should take (the) two tables of stone, the tables of (the) covenant which the Lord made with you, and I abode in the hill forty days and forty nights, and I ate not bread, and I drank not water. (and when I went up the mountain, so that I could receive the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, and I ate no bread, and I drank no water.)
10 And the Lord gave to me two tables of stone, ever either written with God's finger, and containing all the words which he spake to you in the hill, from the midst of the fire, when the company of people was gathered together. (And the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, each written with the finger of God, and containing all the words which he spoke to you from the midst of the fire, when the congregation of the people was gathered together there at the mountain.)
11 And when forty days and so many nights had passed, the Lord gave to me (the) two tables of stone, (the) tables of the bond of peace; (And so when forty days and as many nights had passed, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant;)
12 and he said to me, Rise thou, and go down from hence soon, for thy people, that thou hast led out of Egypt, have forsaken swiftly the way that thou showedest to them, and they have made to them[selves] a molten calf. (and he said to me, Rise thou up, and quickly go down from here, for thy people, whom thou hast led out of Egypt, have already forsaken the way that thou hast shown them, and they have cast an idol for themselves, yea, a metal calf.)
13 And again the Lord said to me, I see that this people is of an hard noll; (And again the Lord said to me, I see that this people be stubborn/be stiff-necked;)
14 suffer thou me, that I all-break him, and do away his name from under heaven; and I shall ordain thee on a folk which is greater and stronger than this folk. (allow me to all-break them, and do away their name from under heaven; and then I shall ordain thee upon a nation which shall be greater and stronger than this nation.)
15 And when I came down from the hill burning, and I held with either hand the two tables of the bond of peace, (And when I came down from the burning mountain, and I held in my hands the two tablets of the covenant,)
16 and I saw, that ye had sinned to your Lord God, and had made to you a molten calf, and that ye had forsaken swiftly the way of God that he had showed to you, (and I saw that ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had cast an idol, yea, a metal calf, for yourselves, and that ye had already forsaken the way of God that he had shown you,)
17 then I threw down the tables from mine hands, and I brake those tables in your sight. (then I threw down the tablets from my hands, and I broke those tablets in front of you.)
18 And I felled down before the Lord as before, in forty days and forty nights, and I ate not bread, and drank not water, for all your sins which ye did against the Lord, and stirred him to great wrath; (And I fell down before the Lord as I did before, for forty days and forty nights, and I ate no bread, and drank no water, for all your sins which ye did against the Lord, and so had stirred him to such great anger;)
19 for I dreaded the indignation and the wrath of the Lord, by which he was stirred against you, and would do you away. And the Lord heard me also in this time praying for you (But once again the Lord listened to me praying for you).
20 Also the Lord was wroth greatly against Aaron, and would have all-broken him, and I prayed in like manner for him. (And the Lord was also greatly angered with Aaron, and would have killed him, and I prayed for him in like manner.)
21 Forsooth I took your sin which ye made, that is, the calf, and burnt it in fire, and I all-brake it into gobbets, and drove (it) utterly into dust, and I cast it forth into the strand, that came down from the hill. (And I took that sinful thing which ye had made, that is, the idol of the calf, and I burned it with fire, and I broke it all up into pieces, and drove it down utterly into dust, and then I threw it forth into the river that came down from the mountain.)
22 Also in the burning, and in the temptation at the waters of against-saying, and in the Sepulchres of Covetousness, ye stirred the Lord (to wrath); (And ye also stirred the Lord to anger at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah;)
23 and when I sent you from Kadeshbarnea, and said, Go ye up, and wield ye the land which I have given to you, and ye despised the commandment of your Lord God, and ye believed not to him, neither ye would hear his voice; (and again when the Lord sent you out from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go ye up, and take ye the land which I have given you, and ye disobeyed the command of the Lord your God, and ye did not trust him, nor would ye listen to his voice;)
24 but ever[more] ye were rebel, from the day in which I began to know you. (but ye were always rebellious against the Lord, yea, from the day in which I first began to know you.)
25 And I lay before the Lord forty days and forty nights, in which I besought him meekly, that he should not do away you, as he menaced. (And so for forty days and forty nights I lay before the Lord, in which time I meekly besought him not to destroy you, as he had threatened.)
26 And I prayed him, and said, Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thine heritage, which thou again-boughtest in thy greatness, which thou leddest out of Egypt in (a) strong hand. (And I prayed to him, and said, Lord God, do not destroy thy people, and thy inheritance, whom thou hast bought back, or hast redeemed, or ransomed, by thy great power, and whom thou hast led out of Egypt with thy strong hand.)
27 Have thou mind of thy servants, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; behold thou not the hardness of this people, and the wickedness, and the sin thereof, (Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not thou look upon the stubbornness of this people, and their wickedness, and their sin,)
28 lest peradventure the dwellers of the land, out of which thou leddest us, say, The Lord might not bring them into the land which he promised to them, and he hated them; therefore he led them out that he should slay them in (the) wilderness; (lest the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast led us, shall say, The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath led them out so that he could kill them in the wilderness;)
29 and Lord, they be thy people, and thine heritage, which thou leddest out in thy great strength, and in thine arm stretched forth. (but Lord, they be thy people, and thy inheritance, whom thou hast led out with thy great strength, and thy outstretched arm.)

Deuteronomy 9 Commentaries

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.