9
1 Hear, Israel: thou art this day (about) to pass over the Jordana, to enter, to drive out nations greater and stronger than thou, and (to take possession of) cities, great and fortified to the height of heaven; 2 A people great and mighty, the sons of the giants whom thou knowest, and (of whom) thou hast heard (it said), Who can stand before the sons of the giants? 3 But know this day that the Word of the Lord thy God, He it is who goeth over before thee, He who is a burning fire, He will consume them, He will break them down before thee, and thou wilt soon drive them out, as the Lord hath told thee.
4 Thou shalt not (therefore) speak in thy heart when the Lord thy God hath broken them before thee, saying: For the sake of my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to inherit this land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord driveth them out before thee. 5 Not for thy righteousness or the integrity of thy heart dost thou go in to possess their land, but for the guilt of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee, and that He may confirm the word which he sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob.
6 Know, then, that not for thy righteousness will the Lord thy God give thee this good land to possess it, for thou art a hard-necked people. 7 Be mindful, and forget not that thou didst provoke the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou camest out from the land of Mizraim until thou hast come to this place, ye have been rebellious before the Lord. 8 And in Horeb (itself) you provoked the Lord, and aroused the Lord’s anger to destroy you. 9 When I had gone up to the mountain to receive the tables of the stones, the tables of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, and I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights I ate no bread, I drank no water. 10 And the Lord gave to me the two tables of stones, written upon by the finger of the Lord, according to all the words which the Lord had spoken with you on the mount from the midst of the fire, on the day of the convocation. 11 It was at the end of forty days and nights, when the Lord gave to me the two tables of the stones, the tables of the covenant, 12 That the Lord said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people whom I brought out from Mizraim are corrupted; they have soon turned from the way that I commanded them, and have made them a molten image.
13 And the Lord spake to me, saying: This people are disclosed before me, and, behold, it is a hard-necked people. 14 Cease from thy prayer before me, and I will destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I will make thee for a people stronger and greater than they. 15 And I turned and descended from the mount; and the mountain burned with fire, and the two tables of the covenant were upon my two hands. 16 And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned before the Lord your God; you had made you a molten calf; you had turned quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 And I took the two tables, and cast them away from my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the Lord as at the first, forty days and forty nights, bread I ate not, water I drank not, for all your sins which you sinned to do evil before the Lord, to provoke to anger before Him; 19 For I was afraid before the anger and indignation wherewith the Lord was angry against you to destroy you; but the Lord hearkened to my prayer on that day also. 20 And against Aharon was there great displeasure before the Lord to destroy him; but I prayed for Aharon also at that time. 21 And your sin which you had made, the calf, I took and burned it in fire, and ground it to a fine grinding till it was small as powder, and I threw the dust of it into the stream that descended from the mount.
22 And at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Desire, you were rebellious before the Lord; 23 And when the Lord sent you from Rekem Giah, saying: Go up and possess the land I have given, then rebelled you against the decree of the Word of the Lord your God, and would not believe Him, nor be obedient to His Word. 24 You have been contumacious before the Lord from the day that I have known you.
25 But I fell down before the Lord the forty days and the forty nights that I was prostrate, for the Lord had spoken to consume you. 26 And I prayed before the Lord, and said: O Lord God, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed by Thy power, and brought out from Mizraim with a mighty hand. 27 Remember Thy servants Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob; regard not the stubbornness of this people, nor their wickedness, nor their sin: 28 Lest the inhabitants of the land from whence Thou hast led us should say: Because there was no power before the Lord to bring them into the land which He had told them of, or because He hated them, He led them forth to kill them in the wilderness. 29 But they are Thy people, and Thy inheritance, which thou hast led forth with Thy great power and Thy uplifted arm.