Deuteronomy 9

Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness

9Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan^h to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you,ⁱ with large cities^j that have walls up to the sky.^{k 2}The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”^{l 3}But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you^m like a devouring fire.ⁿ He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly,^o as the Lord has promised you.

⁴After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself,^p “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness^q of these nations^r that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity^s that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness^t of these nations,^u the Lord your God will drive them out^v before you, to accomplish what he swore^w to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.^{x 6}Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^y

The Golden Calf

⁷Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger^z of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious^a against the Lord.^{b 8}At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath^c so that he was angry enough to destroy you.^{d 9}When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant^e that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days^f and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.^{g 10}The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.^h On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.ⁱ

¹¹At the end of the forty days and forty nights,^j the Lord gave me the two stone tablets,^k the tablets of the covenant. ¹²Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt.^l They have turned away quickly^m from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this peopleⁿ, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴Let me alone,^o so that I may destroy them and blot out^p their name from under heaven.^q And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.^{r 16}When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.^s You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸Then once again I fell^t prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water,^u because of all the sin you had committed,^v doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.^w But again the Lord listened to me.^{x 20}And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust^y and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.^z

²²You also made the Lord angry^a at Taberah,^b at Massah^c and at Kibroth Hattaavah.^d

²³And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea,^e he said, “Go up and take possession^f of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled^g against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust^h him or obey him. ²⁴You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.ⁱ

²⁵I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^j because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^{k 26}I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^l your own inheritance^m that you redeemedⁿ by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{o 27}Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^p of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸Otherwise, the country^q from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^r he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^{s 29}But they are your people,^t your inheritance^u that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^v”