Deuteronomy 9:22-29

22 "Again at ¹Taberah and at ²Massah and at ³Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

23 "When the LORD sent you from ⁴Kadesh-barnea, saying, '⁵Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; ⁶you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.

24 "⁷You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you.

25 "⁸So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

26 "⁹I prayed to the LORD and said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 'Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin.

28 'Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, "¹⁰Because * the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness."

29 'Yet they are Your people, even ¹¹Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your ¹²great power and Your outstretched arm.'

Deuteronomy 9:22-29 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 11:3
• 2. Exodus 17:7
• 3. Numbers 11:34
• 4. Deuteronomy 1:2
• 5. Deuteronomy 1:21
• 6. Deuteronomy 1:26; Psalms 106:24
• 7. Deuteronomy 9:7; Deuteronomy 31:27
• 8. Deuteronomy 9:18
• 9. Exodus 32:11-13; 1 Samuel 7:9; Jeremiah 15:1
• 10. Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:16
• 11. Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Nehemiah 1:10; Psalms 106:40
• 12. Deuteronomy 4:34

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "mouth"
• [b] Lit "fell down"
• [c] Lit "spoken to"