Deuteronomy, Chapter 9:

Verses from Deuteronomy, Chapter 19 of the Book of Deuteronomy of the Bible.

The reason for the victory

• 1. “Hear, O Israel: Today you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess nations greater and stronger than yourselves, cities great and fortified as far as heaven,
• 2. a great and tall people, children of the Anakim, whom you have heard say: 'Who can stand against the children of Anak?'
• 3. Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who passes before you like a consuming fire; it is he who will destroy them and subdue them before you. Destroy them completely, as the Lord has commanded you.
• 4. After the Lord your God has driven them out from before you, do not say in your heart, 'The Lord has brought us here to take possession of this land for our righteousness' sake.' On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.
• 5. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are coming to take possession of your land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, and to fulfill the promise he swore to his ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
• 6. Know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of his righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

The golden calf

• 7. Remember this and never forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.
• 8. In Horeb you provoked the Lord to anger, and he was so angry that he was about to destroy you.
• 9. I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you. I remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, without eating bread or drinking water.
• 10. The Lord gave me two stone tablets written by the finger of God. In them were all the words that the Lord had spoken to them on the mountain, in the midst of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
• 11. At the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
• 12. Then the Lord said to me, 'Hurry down from here, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They soon turned away from the paths I commanded them and made themselves an idol of molten metal.'
• 13. The Lord said to me, 'I have seen these people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.
• 14. Let me now destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. I will make you a nation more powerful and more numerous than they.'
• 15. Then I turned and came down from the mountain, which was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
• 16. I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourself a calf of molten metal. Soon they turned away from the path that the Lord had commanded them.
• 17. Therefore I threw the tablets out of my hands and broke them before you.
• 18. I prostrated myself before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat bread, I did not drink water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking his anger.
• 21. I feared the wrath and indignation of the Lord, for he was so angry with you that he wanted to destroy you. But again the Lord heard me.
• 20. Furthermore, the Lord was very angry with Aaron and wanted to destroy him, but I also prayed for Aaron at that time.
• 21. I took the calf that you had made and burned it in the fire; then I crushed it and reduced it to powder, which I threw into the stream that came down from the mountain.
• 22. In Taberah, Massá and Kibroth-Hataavá you provoked the anger of the Lord.
• 23. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I give you,' you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. They neither trusted nor obeyed him.
• 24. You have been rebels against the Lord since the day I met you.
• 25. Lying on the ground before the Lord, I was prostrate for forty days and forty nights, and I neither ate bread nor drank water.
• 26. And I prayed to the Lord: 'O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your inheritance which you redeemed by your greatness and power, and which you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
• 27. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not pay attention to the obstinacy of this people, their wickedness and their sin.
• 28. If you do not do this, the country from which you brought us will be mocked. The Egyptians will say: 'It was with evil intentions that the Lord took them from here, to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth'. Turn from the fire of your wrath! Give up bringing such disaster upon your people!
• 29. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember the covenant you swore to them when you said, 'I will make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all this land that I promised. She will be their inheritance forever.'”

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