Deuteronomy 9:25

25 And I prayed before the Lord forty days and forty nights, the number that I prayed , for the Lord said that he would utterly destroy you.

Deuteronomy 9:25 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:25

Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights,
as I fell down at the first
Which Jarchi says are the selfsame said above, ( Deuteronomy 9:18 ) , but doubled or repeated, because of the order of his prayer. The words "at the first" are not in the text; and, as before observed, we do not read that Moses fell down at the first forty days he was in the mount, unless it can be thought he did, ( Exodus 32:11 ) , wherefore this falling down seems to be as he fell down at the second forty days; and so this was a third forty days, according to the Jewish writers, and of which opinion were Dr. Lightfoot and others; (See Gill on Exodus 34:28),

because the Lord had said he would destroy you;
threatened them with destruction, and seemed as if it was his intention to destroy them; nay, even after Moses's first prayer, though he bid him go and lead the people on, yet he declared that he would visit their sin upon them, ( Exodus 32:34 ) .

Deuteronomy 9:25 In-Context

23 And when the Lord sent you forth from Cades Barne, saying, Go up and inherit the land which I give to you, then ye disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and believed him not, and hearkened not to his voice.

24 Ye were disobedient in the things relating to the Lord from the day in which he became known to you.

25 And I prayed before the Lord forty days and forty nights, the number that I prayed , for the Lord said that he would utterly destroy you.

26 And I prayed to God, and said, O Lord, King of gods, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, whom thou didst redeem, whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt with thy great power, and with thy strong hand, and with thy high arm.

27 Remember Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thyself: look not upon the hardness of heart of this people, and their impieties, and their sins.