9 1 God doth not them good for their own righteousness, but for his own sake. 7 Moses putteth them in remembrance of their sins. 17 The two Tables are broken. 26 Moses prayeth for the people.
1 Hear, O Israel, Thou shalt pass over Jordan [a]this day, to go in and to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, and cities great and walled up to heaven,
2 A people great and tall, even the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast [b]heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak?
3 Understand therefore that this day the Lord thy God is he which [c]goeth over before thee as a consuming fire: he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so thou shalt cast them out and destroy them suddenly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.
4 Speak not thou in thine heart (after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out before thee) saying, For my [d]righteousness the Lord hath brought me in, to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord hath cast them out before thee.
5 For thou entrust not to inherit their land for thy righteousness, or for their upright heart, but for the wickedness of those nations, the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee, and that he might perform the word which the Lord thy God sware 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 [e]stiff-necked people.
7 ¶ Remember and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wilderness: [f]since the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came into this place, ye have rebelled against the Lord.
8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to anger, so that the Lord was wroth with you, even to destroy you.
9 When I was gone up into the mount, to receive the Tables of stone, the Tables, I say, of the Covenant, which the Lord made with you: and (A)I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, and I neither ate bread nor yet drank water:
10 (B)Then the Lord delivered me two tables of stone, written with the [g]finger of God, and in them was contained according to all the words which the Lord had said unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.
11 And when the forty days and forty nights were ended, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables, I say, of the covenant.
12 And the Lord said unto me, (C)Arise, get thee down quickly from hence: for thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have [h]corrupt their ways: they are soon turned out of the way which I commanded them, they have made them a molten image.
13 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
14 [i]Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and put out their name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a mighty nation and greater than they be.
15 So I returned, and came down from the mount (and the mount burnt with fire, and the two Tables of the Covenant were in my two hands.)
16 Then I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God: for ye had made you a molten calf, and had turned quickly out of the [j]way which the Lord had commanded you.
17 Therefore I took the two Tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18 And I fell down before the Lord, forty days, and forty nights, as before: I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sins which ye had committed, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, in that ye provoked him unto wrath.
19 (For I was afraid of the wrath and indignation, wherewith the Lord was moved against you, even to destroy you) yet the Lord heard me at that time also.
20 Likewise the Lord was very angry with Aaron, even to [k]destroy him: but at that time I prayed also for Aaron.
21 And I took your sin, I mean the calf which ye had made, and burnt him with fire, and stamped him and ground him small, even unto very dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the river, that descended out of the [l]mount.
22 Also (D)in Taberah, and in (E)Massah, (F)and in Kibroth Hattaavah ye provoked the Lord to anger.
23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, Go up, and possess the land which I have given you, then ye [m]rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and believed him not, nor hearkened unto his voice.
24 Ye have been rebellious unto the Lord, since the day that I knew you.
25 Then I fell down before the Lord [n]forty days, and forty nights, as I fell down before, because the Lord had said that he would destroy you.
26 And I prayed unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt by a mighty hand.
27 [o]Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,
28 Lest the country whence thou broughtest them, say, (G)Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, or because he hated them, he carried them out to slay them in the wilderness.
29 Yet they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power, and by thy stretched out arm.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 9:1 Meaning, shortly.
- Deuteronomy 9:2 By the report of the spies, Num. 13:26.
- Deuteronomy 9:3 To guide thee and govern thee.
- Deuteronomy 9:4 Man of himself can deserve nothing but God’s anger, and if God spare any it cometh of his great mercy.
- Deuteronomy 9:6 Like stubborn oxen which will not endure their master’s yoke.
- Deuteronomy 9:7 He proveth by the length of time, that their rebellion was most great and intolerable.
- Deuteronomy 9:10 That is, miraculously, and not by the hand of men.
- Deuteronomy 9:12 So soon as man declineth from the obedience of God, his ways are corrupt.
- Deuteronomy 9:14 Signifying that the prayers of the faithful are a bar to stay God’s anger that he consume not all.
- Deuteronomy 9:16 That is, from the Law: wherein he declareth what is the cause of our perdition.
- Deuteronomy 9:20 Whereby he showeth what danger they are in, that have authority and resist not wickedness.
- Deuteronomy 9:21 Horeb, or Sinai.
- Deuteronomy 9:23 At the return of the spies.
- Deuteronomy 9:25 Whereby is signified that God requireth earnest continuance in prayer.
- Deuteronomy 9:27 The godly in their prayers ground on God’s promise, and confess their sins.