Deuteronomy 9

Hear O Israel! thou art passing, to-day, over the Jordan, to go in to dispossess nations, greater and stronger than thou,—cities great and fortified into the heavens;

a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim,—whom, thou, knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?

So then, thou must consider to-day, that God thy God, he it is that is passing over before thee as a consuming fire, he, will destroy them, and, he, will cause them to bow down before thee,—so shalt thou dispossess them, and destroy them speedily, as God hath spoken unto thee.

Do not speak in thy heart, when God thy God casteth them out from before thee saying, For mine own righteousness, hath God brought me in, to possess this land,—whereas it is for the lawlessness of these nations, that, God, is dispossessing them from before thee.

Not for thine own righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thine own heart, art thou going in to possess their land,—but for the lawlessness of these nations, is, God thy God driving them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which God sware unto thy fathers, unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob.

So then, thou must consider that, not for thine own righteousness, is God thy God giving unto thee this good land to possess it,—for a stiff-necked people, thou art.

Remember—do not forget, how thou didst provoke God thy God, in the desert,—yea from the day when thou camest forth out of the and of Egypt until ye entered as far as this place, have ye been quarrelling, with God.

Even in Horeb, ye provoked God to wrath,—so that God showed himself angry with you to destroy you.

When I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone—the tables of the covenant, which God had solemnised with you, then abode I in the mountain forty days and forty nights, food, did I not, eat, and water, did I not drink.

Then did God deliver unto me the two tables of stone, written with the finger of God,—and [there was] upon them, according to all the words which God had spoken with you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the convocation.

So then it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that God gave unto me the two tables of stone the tables of the covenant.

Then said God unto me—Up! get down quickly out of this mountain, for thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have broken faith,—they have turned aside quickly, out of the way which I commanded them,—they have made them a molten image.

And God spake unto me saying,—I have looked on this people, and lo! a stiff-necked people, it is.

Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and wipe out their name from under the heavens,—and make thee into a nation stronger and more in number than they.

So I turned, and came down out of the mountain, now the mountain was burning with fire,—and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands.

Then looked I, and lo! ye had sinned against God your God, ye had made you a molten calf,—ye had turned aside quickly, out of the way which God had commanded you.

So I seized the two tables, and cast them from off my two hands,—and brake them in pieces before your eyes.

Then lay I prostrate before God as at the first, forty days and forty nights, food, did I not eat, and water, did I not drink,—because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing the thing that was wicked, in the eyes of God. to provoke him to anger.

For I shrank with fear from the face of the anger and the hot displeasure, wherewith God was provoked against you to destroy you,—but God hearkened unto me, even at that time.

And with Aaron, did God show himself exceedingly angry, to destroy him,—so I prostrated myself, even in behalf of Aaron at that time.

And your sin which ye had made even the calf, took I and burned it up with fire, and pounded it very small, until it was fine as dust,—then cast I the dust thereof into the torrent that descended out of the mountain.

Also, at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation, became ye unto God.

Also when God sent you out of Kadesh-barnea saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given unto you then quarreled ye with the bidding of God your God, and trusted him not, neither hearkened unto his voice.

Ye have been quarrelling, with God,—from the day that I first knew you.

Thus, then lay I prostrate before God, the forty days and the forty nights that I did lie prostrate,—because God spake of destroying you.

Therefore I prostrated myself unto God and said, My Lord God! Do not destroy thy people even thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness,—which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a firm hand.

Have remembrance of thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob,—do not regard the obduracy of this people, or their lawlessness or their sin:

lest the land out of which thou hast brought us forth say, Because God was not able to bring them into the land of which he had spoken to them,—and because he hated them, took he them forth to put them to death in the desert.

Yet, they, are thy people and thine inheritance,—whom thou hast brought forth with thy great strength, and with thy stretched-out arm.