Deuteronomy 9:1-11

1 Hear, O Israel: Thou art ready to pass over the Jordan this day to enter in to inherit that of Gentiles greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

2 A people, great and tall, sons of the Anakims, whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak!

3 Understand, therefore, this day that the LORD thy God is he who passes before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them and humble them before thee, and thou shalt drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said unto thee.

4 Think not in thine heart, after the LORD thy God has cast them out from before thee, saying, Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to inherit this land; rather for the wickedness of these Gentiles the LORD drives them out from before thee.

5 Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou enter in to inherit their land; but for the wickedness of these Gentiles, the LORD thy God drives them out from before thee and that he may confirm the word which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand, therefore, that the LORD thy God does not give thee this good land to inherit because of thy righteousness, for thou art a stiffnecked people.

7 Remember, and forget not, how thou hast provoked the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

9 When I climbed up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, without eating bread or drinking water;

10 and the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 9:1-11 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.