Deuteronomy 9:4-14

4 Speak not in thine heart, when the Lord thy God has destroyed these nations before thy face, saying, For my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land.

5 Not for thy righteousness, nor for the holiness of thy heart, dost thou go in to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord will destroy them from before thee, and that he may establish the covenant, which the Lord sware to our fathers, to Abraam, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 And thou shalt know to-day, that not for thy righteousnesses the Lord thy God gives thee this good land to inherit, for thou art a stiff-necked people.

7 Remember, forget not, how much thou provokedst the Lord thy God in the wilderness: from the day that ye came forth out of Egypt, even till ye came into this place, ye continued to be disobedient toward the Lord.

8 Also in Choreb ye provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry with you to destroy you;

9 when I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, which the Lord made with you, and I was in the mountain forty days and forty nights, I ate no bread and drank no water.

10 And the Lord gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them there had been written all the words which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass after forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant.

12 And the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence, for thy people whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have transgressed; they have gone aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made themselves a molten image.

13 And the Lord spoke to me, saying, I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

14 And now suffer me utterly to destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and will make of thee a nation great and strong, and more numerous than this.

Deuteronomy 9:4-14 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.