Deuteronomy 9 - 10

Israel Provoked Yahweh

“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 So you shall know today that it is Yahweh your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them, and He will subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess them and make them perish quickly, just as Yahweh has spoken to you. 4 “Do not say in your heart when Yahweh your God has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing them before you. 5 It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to confirm the oath which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 “So you shall know it is not because of your righteousness that Yahweh your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. 8 Even at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. 9 When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh had cut with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 Now it happened at the end of forty days and nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’ 13 Yahweh spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’ 15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. 17 And I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and shattered them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of Yahweh to provoke Him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and the wrath with which Yahweh was provoked against you in order to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me that time also. 20 And Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 Now I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain. 22 “Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to wrath. 23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God; you did not believe Him, and you did not listen to His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day I knew you. 25 “So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and the forty nights, which I did because Yahweh had said He would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to Yahweh and said, ‘O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stiff-neck of this people or at their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which You brought us say, “Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’

The Tablets Rewritten

“At that time Yahweh said to me, ‘Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two tablets of stone like the former ones and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4 And He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as Yahweh commanded me.” 6 (Now the sons of Israel set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place. 7 From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister for Him and to bless in His name to this day. 9 Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, just as Yahweh your God spoke to him.) 10 “I, moreover, stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time, and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh was not willing to destroy you. 11 Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey ahead of the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

Circumcise Your Heart

12 “So now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask from you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to Yahweh your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. 15 Yet on your fathers did Yahweh set His affection to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. 17 For Yahweh your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the fearsome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. 18 He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows love for the sojourner by giving him food and clothing. 19 So show love for the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 Yahweh your God you shall fear; Him you shall serve, and to Him you shall cling, and by His name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done these great and fearsome things for you which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now Yahweh your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.