Deuteronomy 9:16

16 And I looked, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; you [had] turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded [for] you.

Deuteronomy 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:16

And I looked
When he was come down from the mount, and was nigh the camp:

and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God;
that plainly appeared by what they had done, and at which he was amazed; and therefore a behold is prefixed to it, it being such a gross sin, having so much impiety and ingratitude, and stupidity in it:

and made you a molten calf;
that he saw with his eyes, and them dancing about it; see ( Exodus 32:19 )

ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded
you;
see ( Deuteronomy 9:7 ) .

Deuteronomy 9:16 In-Context

14 Leave me alone, and let me destroy them, and let me blot out their name from under heaven, and let me make you into a nation mightier and more numerous than they!'

15 "And I turned, and I went down the mountain, as the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant [were] in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; you [had] turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded [for] you.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "saw"
• [b]. Or "molten calf"