Deuteronomy 9:5-15

5 Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 "Understand, therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiffnecked people.

7 Remember, and forget not, how thou 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 so angry with you as to have destroyed you.

9 When I had gone up into the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode on the mount forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you on 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 tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant.

12 And the LORD said unto me, `Arise, get thee down quickly from hence, for thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten image.'

13 "Furthermore the LORD spoke unto me, saying, `I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people.

14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.'

15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

Deuteronomy 9:5-15 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.