^9:1Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications.¹^9:2They include the Anakites,² a numerous³ and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?” ^9:3Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he⁴ has told you. ^9:4Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. ^9:5It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness,⁵ that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he⁶ made on oath to your ancestors,⁷ to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^9:6Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn⁸ people!

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

^9:7Remember—don’t ever forget⁹—how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.¹⁰^9:8At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. ^9:9When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there¹¹ forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. ^9:10The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger¹² of God, and on them was everything¹³ he¹⁴ said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. ^9:11Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. ^9:12And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.”¹⁵^9:13Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn¹⁶ lot! ^9:14Stand aside¹⁷ and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory,¹⁸ and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

^9:15So I turned and went down the mountain while it¹⁹ was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. ^9:16When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf;²⁰ you had quickly turned aside from the way he²¹ had commanded you! ^9:17I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down,²² and shattered them before your very eyes. ^9:18Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him. ^9:19For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger²³ that threatened to destroy you. But he²⁴ listened to me this time as well. ^9:20The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him²⁵ too. ^9:21As for your sinful thing²⁶ that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down,²⁷ ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. ^9:22Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah,²⁸ Massah,²⁹ and Kibroth-Hattaavah.³⁰^9:23And when he³¹ sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God³² and would neither believe nor obey him. ^9:24You have been rebelling against him³³ from the very first day I knew you!

Moses’ Plea on Behalf of the Lord’s Reputation

^9:25I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights,³⁴ for he³⁵ had said he would destroy you. ^9:26I prayed to him:³⁶ O, Lord God,³⁷ do not destroy your people, your valued property³⁸ that you have powerfully redeemed,³⁹ whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength.⁴⁰^9:27Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. ^9:28Otherwise the people of the land⁴¹ from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.”⁴²^9:29They are your people, your valued property,⁴³ whom you brought out with great strength and power.⁴⁴

The Opportunity to Begin Again

^10:1At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark.¹^10:2I will write on the tablets the same words² that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” ^10:3So I made an ark of acacia³ wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ^10:4The Lord⁴ then wrote on the tablets the same words,⁵ the ten commandments,⁶ which he⁷ had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he⁸ gave them to me. ^10:5Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made—they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me.

Conclusion of the Historical Resume

^10:6“During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan⁹ to Moserah.¹⁰ There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. ^10:7From there they traveled to Gudgodah,¹¹ and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah,¹² a place of flowing streams. ^10:8At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi¹³ to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings¹⁴ in his name, as they do to this very day. ^10:9Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance¹⁵ among his brothers;¹⁶ the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. ^10:10As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, forty days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. ^10:11Then he¹⁷ said to me, “Get up, set out leading¹⁸ the people so they may go and possess¹⁹ the land I promised to give to their ancestors.”²⁰

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

^10:12Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him,²¹ to obey all his commandments,²² to love him, to serve him²³ with all your mind and being,²⁴^10:13and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving²⁵ you today for your own good? ^10:14The heavens—indeed the highest heavens—belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. ^10:15However, only to your ancestors did he²⁶ show his loving favor,²⁷ and he chose you, their descendants,²⁸ from all peoples—as is apparent today. ^10:16Therefore, cleanse²⁹ your heart and stop being so stubborn!³⁰^10:17For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, ^10:18who justly treats³¹ the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. ^10:19So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. ^10:20Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name. ^10:21He is the one you should praise;³² he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. ^10:22When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.³³

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

^11:1You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments¹ at all times. ^11:2Bear in mind today that I am not speaking² to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments³ of the Lord your God, which revealed⁴ his greatness, strength, and power.⁵^11:3They did not see⁶ the awesome deeds he performed⁷ in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, ^11:4or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea⁸ overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he⁹ annihilated them.¹⁰^11:5They did not see¹¹ what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place, ^11:6or what he did to Dathan and Abiram,¹² sons of Eliab the Reubenite,¹³ when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp¹⁴ and swallowed them, their families,¹⁵ their tents, and all the property they brought with them.¹⁶^11:7I am speaking to you¹⁷ because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!

The Abundance of the Land of Promise

^11:8Now pay attention to all the commandments¹⁸ I am giving¹⁹ you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed,²⁰^11:9and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors²¹ and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^11:10For the land where you are headed²² is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand²³ like a vegetable garden. ^11:11Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy²⁴ is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains,²⁵^11:12a land the Lord your God looks after.²⁶ He is constantly attentive to it²⁷ from the beginning to the end of the year.²⁸^11:13Now, if you pay close attention²⁹ to my commandments that I am giving you…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Deuteronomy 9–11 in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so ); “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
2 Anakites. See note on this term in .
3 Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” , , , ).
4 Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid redundancy.
5 Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so , ). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsédaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. , “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the Lord’s favor. As he states in both vv. 4–5, the main reason he allowed Israel to take this land was the sinfulness of the Canaanites who lived there (cf. Gen 15:16).
6 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
7 Heb “fathers.”
8 Heb “stiff-necked” (so , , ). The Hebrew word translated stubborn means “stiff-necked.” The image is that of a draft animal that is unsubmissive to the rein or yoke and refuses to bend its neck to draw the load. This is an apt description of OT Israel (Exod 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut 9:13).
9 By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishékakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
10 Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in .
11 Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
12 The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself—not Moses in any way—was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).
13 Heb “according to all the words.”
14 Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in .
15 Heb “a casting.” The reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some and add עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”), “a molten calf” or the like (Exod 32:8). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.
16 Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in .
17 Heb “leave me alone.”
18 Heb “from under heaven.”
19 Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
20 On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. .
21 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
22 The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
23 Heb “the anger and the wrath.” Although many English versions translate as two terms, this construction is a hendiadys which serves to intensify the emotion (cf. , “fierce anger”).
24 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
25 Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
26 Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
27 Heb “burned it with fire.”
28 Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the Lord’s fiery wrath against Israel because of their constant complaints against him (Num 11:1–3).
29 Massah. See note on this term in .
30 Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31–35).
31 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
32 Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
33 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
34 The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
35 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
36 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
37 Heb “Lord Lord” (אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, ’adonay yéhvih). The phrase is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God” (אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהִים, ’adonay ’elohim). See also the note on the phrase “Lord God” in .
38 Heb “your inheritance”; “your special (very own ) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.
39 Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
40 Heb “by your strong hand.”
41 The reads only “the land.” supplies עַם (’am, “people”) and and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
42 Or “wilderness” (so , , , ).
43 Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. .
44 Heb “an outstretched arm.”
1 Or “chest” (so , ); “sacred chest”; “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
2 The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the Lord’s commandments.
3 Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
4 Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. .
6 Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”
7 Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
8 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” earlier in this verse.
9 Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan. This Hebrew name could be translated “the wells of Bene-Yaaqan” or “the wells of the sons of Yaaqan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31–32; 1 Chr 1:42).
10 Moserah. Since Aaron in other texts (Num 20:28; 33:38) is said to have died on Mount Hor, this must be the Arabah region in which Hor was located.
11 Gudgodah. This is probably the same as Haggidgad, which is also associated with Jotbathah (Num 33:33).
12 Jotbathah. This place, whose Hebrew name can be translated “place of wadis,” is possibly modern Ain Tabah, just north of Eilat, or Tabah, 6.5 mi (11 km) south of Eilat on the west shore of the Gulf of Aqaba.
13 The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11–13; 8:12–26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in the Book of Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25–28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.
14 To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24–26.
15 Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1–8; Josh 21:1–42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the Lord himself was their apportionment, that is, service to him would be their full-time and lifelong privilege (Num 18:20–24; Deut 18:2; Josh 13:33).
16 That is, among the other Israelite tribes.
17 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
18 Heb “before” (so , ); , “at the head of.”
19 After the imperative these subordinated jussive forms (with prefixed vav) indicate purpose or result.
20 Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 15, 22).
21 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
22 Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so , , ); “follow his ways exactly”; “to live according to his will.”
23 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
24 Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in .
25 Heb “commanding” (so , ). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
26 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
27 Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in ).
28 The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.
29 Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. , , ). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9–14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).
30 Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in .
31 Or “who executes justice for” (so , ); “gives justice to.”
32 Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).
33 Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
1 This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow—חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).
2 Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (, “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b–6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.
4 The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.
5 Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
6 In the Hebrew text vv. 2–7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.
7 Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” ( similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.
8 Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in .
9 Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
10 Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. ); “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.
11 See note on these same words in v. .
12 Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1–3, 31–35).
13 Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”
14 Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so , , ); “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.
15 Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. , , , , , “households.”
16 Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”
17 On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. .
18 Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
19 Heb “commanding” (so , ). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
20 Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
21 Heb “fathers” (also in v. 21).
22 Heb “you are going there to possess it”; “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; “that you are crossing over to occupy.”
23 Heb “with your foot” (so , ). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.
24 Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
25 Heb “rain of heaven.”
26 Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.
27 Heb “the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it” (so ); , “always on it.” Constantly attentive to it. This attention to the land by the Lord is understandable in light of the centrality of the land in the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen 12:1, 7; 13:15; 15:7, 16, 18; 17:8; 26:3).
28 From the beginning to the end of the year. This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. .
29 Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”