⁵You are not going in to take over their land because you have done what is right or honest. It’s because those nations are so evil. That’s why the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. He will do what he said he would do. He took an oath and made a promise to your fathers. He made it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

⁶The Lord your God is giving you this good land to take as your own. But you must understand that it isn’t because you are a godly nation. In fact, you are stubborn.

Israel Worshiped the Golden Calf

⁷Here is something you must remember. Never forget it. You made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You refused to obey him from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here.

⁸At Mount Horeb you made the Lord angry enough to destroy you. ⁹I went up the mountain. I went there to receive the tablets of the covenant. They were made out of stone. It was the covenant the Lord had made with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. I didn’t eat any food or drink any water.

¹⁰The Lord gave me two stone tablets. The words on them were written by the finger of God. All of the commandments the Lord gave you were written on the tablets. He announced them to you out of the fire on the mountain. He wrote them on the day you gathered together there.

¹¹The 40 days and 40 nights came to an end. Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets. They were the tablets of the covenant. ¹²The Lord told me, “Go down from here right away. The people you brought out of Egypt have become very sinful. They have quickly turned away from what I commanded them. They have made a metal statue of a god for themselves.”

¹³The Lord said to me, “I have seen these people. They are so stubborn! ¹⁴Do not try to stop me. I am going to destroy them. I will wipe them out from the earth. Then I will make you into a great nation. Your people will be stronger than they were. There will be more of you than there were of them.”

¹⁵So I turned and went down the mountain. It was blazing with fire. I was carrying the two tablets of the covenant.

¹⁶When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. You had quickly turned away from the path the Lord had commanded you to follow.

¹⁷So I threw the two tablets out of my hands. You watched them break into pieces.

¹⁸Then once again I fell down flat in front of the Lord with my face toward the ground. I lay there for 40 days and 40 nights. I didn’t eat any food or drink any water. You had committed a terrible sin. You had done an evil thing in the Lord’s sight. You had made him angry.

¹⁹I was afraid of the Lord’s burning anger. He was so angry with you he wanted to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me again. ²⁰And he was so angry with Aaron he wanted to destroy him too. But at that time I prayed for Aaron.

²¹I also got that sinful calf you had made. I burned it in the fire. I crushed it and ground it into fine powder. Then I threw the powder into a stream that was flowing down the mountain.

²²You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah.

²³The Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea. He said, “Go up and take over the land I have given you.” But you refused to do what the Lord your God had commanded you to do. You didn’t trust him or obey him. ²⁴You have been refusing to obey the Lord as long as I’ve known you.

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