Deuteronomy 9:16

16 That's when I saw it: There you were, sinning against God, your God - you had made yourselves a cast god in the shape of a calf! So soon you had left the road that God had commanded you to walk on.

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 Get out of my way now so I can destroy them. I'm going to wipe them off the face of the map. Then I'll start over with you to make a nation far better and bigger than they could ever be."
15 I turned around and started down the mountain - by now the mountain was blazing with fire - carrying the two tablets of the covenant in my two arms.
16 That's when I saw it: There you were, sinning against God, your God - you had made yourselves a cast god in the shape of a calf! So soon you had left the road that God had commanded you to walk on.
17 I held the two stone slabs high and threw them down, smashing them to bits as you watched.
18 Then I prostrated myself before God, just as I had at the beginning of the forty days and nights. I ate no food; I drank no water. I did this because of you, all your sins, sinning against God, doing what is evil in God's eyes and making him angry.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.