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Deuteronomy 9
New English Translation

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9 Listen, 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.[a] 2 They include the Anakites,[b] a numerous[c] and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?” 3 Understand 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 he[d] has told you. 4 Do 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. 5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness,[e] 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 he[f] made on oath to your ancestors,[g] to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand, 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 stubborn[h] people!

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

7 Remember—don’t ever forget[i]—how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.[j] 8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there[k] forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger[l] of God, and on them was everything[m] he[n] said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 And 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.”[o] 13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn[p] lot! 14 Stand aside[q] and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory,[r] and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it[s] was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 16 When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf;[t] you had quickly turned aside from the way he[u] had commanded you! 17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down,[v] and shattered them before your very eyes. 18 Then 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. 19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger[w] that threatened to destroy you. But he[x] listened to me this time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him[y] too. 21 As for your sinful thing[z] that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down,[aa] ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah,[ab] Massah,[ac] and Kibroth Hattaavah.[ad] 23 And when he[ae] sent you from Kadesh Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God[af] and would neither believe nor obey him. 24 You have been rebelling against him[ag] from the very first day I knew you!

Moses’ Plea on Behalf of God’s Reputation

25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights,[ah] for he[ai] had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to him:[aj] O, Sovereign Lord,[ak] do not destroy your people, your valued property[al] that you have powerfully redeemed,[am] whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength.[an] 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. 28 Otherwise the people of the land[ao] 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 wilderness.” 29 They are your people, your valued property,[ap] whom you brought out with great strength and power.[aq]

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:1 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
  2. Deuteronomy 9:2 sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.
  3. Deuteronomy 9:2 tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).
  4. Deuteronomy 9:3 tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid redundancy.
  5. Deuteronomy 9:5 tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, “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. NAB, NIV “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. Deuteronomy 9:5 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  7. Deuteronomy 9:5 tn Heb “fathers.”
  8. Deuteronomy 9:6 tn Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).sn 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. Deuteronomy 9:7 tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (ʾal tishkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
  10. Deuteronomy 9:7 tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3.
  11. Deuteronomy 9:9 tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  12. Deuteronomy 9:10 sn 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. Deuteronomy 9:10 tn Heb “according to all the words.”
  14. Deuteronomy 9:10 tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.
  15. Deuteronomy 9:12 tc Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some mss and Smr add עֵגֶל (ʿegel, “calf”), “a molten calf” or the like (Exod 32:8). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.
  16. Deuteronomy 9:13 tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.
  17. Deuteronomy 9:14 tn Heb “leave me alone.”
  18. Deuteronomy 9:14 tn Heb “from under heaven.”
  19. Deuteronomy 9:15 tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  20. Deuteronomy 9:16 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
  21. Deuteronomy 9:16 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  22. Deuteronomy 9:17 tn 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. Deuteronomy 9:19 tn 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. NAB, TEV “fierce anger”).
  24. Deuteronomy 9:19 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  25. Deuteronomy 9:20 tn Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
  26. Deuteronomy 9:21 tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
  27. Deuteronomy 9:21 tn Heb “burned it with fire.”
  28. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (baʿar, “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. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.
  30. Deuteronomy 9:22 sn 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. Deuteronomy 9:23 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  32. Deuteronomy 9:23 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
  33. Deuteronomy 9:24 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  34. Deuteronomy 9:25 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
  35. Deuteronomy 9:25 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  36. Deuteronomy 9:26 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.
  37. Deuteronomy 9:26 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh” (אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, ʾadonay yehvih). The phrase is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God” (אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהִים, ʾadonay ʾelohim).
  38. Deuteronomy 9:26 tn Heb “your inheritance”; NLT “your special (very own NRSV) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.
  39. Deuteronomy 9:26 tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
  40. Deuteronomy 9:26 tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
  41. Deuteronomy 9:28 tc The MT reads only “the land.” Smr supplies עַם (ʿam, “people”) and LXX and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  42. Deuteronomy 9:29 tn Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26.
  43. Deuteronomy 9:29 tn Heb “an outstretched arm.”
Close CEB

Deuteronomy 9
Common English Bible

Against false piety and immodesty

9 Listen, Israel! Today you will cross the Jordan River to enter and take possession of nations larger and more powerful than you, along with huge cities with fortifications that reach to the sky. 2 These people are large and tall—they are the Anakim. You know and have heard what people say: “Who can stand up to the Anakim?” 3 Know right now that the Lord your God, who is crossing over before you, is an all-consuming fire! He will wipe them out! He will subdue them before you! Then you will take possession of their land, eliminating them quickly, exactly as the Lord told you.

4 Once the Lord your God has driven them out before you, don’t think to yourself, It’s because I’m righteous that the Lord brought me in to possess this land. It is instead because of these nations’ wickedness that the Lord is removing them before you. 5 You aren’t entering and taking possession of their land because you are righteous or because your heart is especially virtuous; rather, it is because these nations are wicked—that’s why the Lord your God is removing them before you, and because he wishes to establish the promise he made to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Gold calf

6 Know then that the Lord your God isn’t giving you this excellent land for you to possess on account of your righteousness—because you are a stubborn people! 7 Remember—don’t ever forget!—how you made the Lord your God furious in the wilderness. From the very first day you stepped out of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebels against the Lord. 8 Even at Horeb you angered the Lord! He was so enraged by you that he threatened to wipe you out. 9 When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the covenant tablets that the Lord made with you, I was up there forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread, drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by God’s finger, and on them were all the words that the Lord had said to you on the mountain, out of the very fire itself, on the day we assembled. 11 At the end of those forty days and nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets—the covenant tablets. 12 Then the Lord said to me, “Get going! Get down from here quickly because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have ruined everything! They couldn’t wait to turn from the path I commanded them! They’ve made themselves an idol out of cast metal.”

13 The Lord said more to me: “I have seen this people. Look! What a stubborn people they are! 14 Now stand back. I am going to wipe them out. I will erase their name from under heaven, then I will make a nation out of you—one stronger and larger than they were.”

15 So I went down the mountain while it was blazing with fire. The two covenant tablets were in my two hands. 16 It was then that I saw how you sinned against the Lord your God: you made yourselves a calf, an idol made of cast metal! You couldn’t wait to turn from the path the Lord commanded you! 17 I grabbed the two tablets and threw them down with my own hands, shattering them while you watched. 18 Then I fell before the Lord as I had done the previous forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water, all because of the sin that you had committed by doing such evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating him. 19 I was afraid of the massive anger and rage the Lord had for you—he was going to wipe you out! However, the Lord listened to me again in that moment.

20 But the Lord was furious with Aaron—he was going to wipe him out! So I also prayed hard for Aaron at that time. 21 And as for that sinful thing you made, that calf, I took it and I burned it with fire. Then I smashed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust. Then I dumped the dust into the stream that ran down the mountain.

22 Also at Taberah, again at Massah, and then again at Kibroth-hattaavah, you have been the kind of people who make the Lord angry. 23 And then, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, telling you: “Go up and take possession of the land that I’m giving you,” you disobeyed the Lord your God’s command. You didn’t trust him. You didn’t obey God’s voice. 24 You’ve been rebellious toward the Lord from the day I[a] met you.

Moses’ intercessory prayer

25 But I fell on my knees in the Lord’s presence forty days and forty nights, lying flat out, because the Lord planned on wiping you out. 26 But I prayed to the Lord! I said: Lord, my Lord! Don’t destroy your people, your own possession, whom you saved by your own power, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand! 27 Remember your servants: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Don’t focus on this people’s stubbornness, wickedness, and sin. 28 Otherwise, that land out of which you brought us will say: The Lord wasn’t strong enough to bring them into the land he’d promised them. Because he didn’t care for them in the least, he brought them out to die in the desert. 29 But these are your people! Your own possession! The people you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm!

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:24 LXX, Sam he (God) met you
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