9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so that you can dispossess¹ the nations there, people greater and stronger than you, large cities with extremely high² fortifications, 9:2 the Anakites,³ a populous and tall people about whom you know and of whom it is said,⁴ “Who is able to withstand the Anakites?” 9:3 Understand today that the LORD your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will devastate and humiliate them before you. Thus you will expel and demolish them quickly just as he⁵ has told you. 9:4 Do not think to yourself after the LORD your God has run them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the LORD has enabled⁶ me to possess this land; and because of the wickedness of these nations he⁷ is dispossessing them from before me.”⁸ 9:5 It is not because of your righteousness or even your inner uprightness⁹ that you have come to possess their land; rather, because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is expelling them from before you so that he might confirm the promise he¹⁰ swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9:6 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 stubborn¹¹ people.

9:7 Remember—don’t ever forget¹²—how you provoked the LORD your God in the desert; from the time you left Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.¹³ 9:8 At Horeb you provoked him¹⁴ and he¹⁵ was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9:9 When I ascended the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained there¹⁶ forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing.¹⁷ 9:10 And the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, written with the very finger¹⁸ of God; and upon them was everything¹⁹ he²⁰ said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 9:11 Now at the end of the forty days and forty nights the LORD presented me with the two stone tablets, the texts²¹ of the covenant. 9:12 And he²² said to me, “Get up, go down from here²³ because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made a cast image.”²⁴ 9:13 Moreover, he²⁵ said to me, “I have taken note of these people that they are a stubborn²⁶ lot. 9:14 Step aside²⁷ and I will annihilate them, obliterating their very name from memory²⁸ and making from you a stronger and more numerous nation than they.” 9:16 When I looked you had indeed²⁹ sinned against the LORD your God and had made a cast calf;³⁰ so quickly you had turned aside from the way he³¹ had taught³² you! 9:17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down,³³ and shattered them before your very eyes. 9:18 Then I fell down before the LORD as at the first time, forty days and forty nights; I ate and drank nothing³⁴ because of all the sin you had committed, doing such wickedness before the LORD as to offend him. 9:19 For I was terrified at the LORD’s intense anger³⁵ against you going so far as to destroy you; but he³⁶ listened to me then also. 9:20 The LORD was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but I prayed for him also at that time. 9:21 As for your sinful thing³⁷ that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down,³⁸ ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the wadi that flows down the mountain. 9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah,³⁹ Massah,⁴⁰ and Kibroth-Hattaavah.⁴¹ 9:23 And when he⁴² 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 and would neither believe nor obey him. 9:24 You have been rebellious against him⁴³ from the very first day I knew you.

9:25 Thus, I prostrated myself before the LORD for forty days and forty nights⁴⁴, for he⁴⁵ had said he would destroy you. 9:26 And I prayed to him:⁴⁶ O, Lord God,⁴⁷ do not destroy your people, your very inheritance, that you have powerfully redeemed,⁴⁸ whom you have brought out of Egypt by your mighty strength.⁴⁹ 9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore⁵⁰ the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people, 9:28 lest the people of⁵¹ the land from which you brought us say, “The LORD was unable to bring them to the land of which he spoke to them, and because of his hate for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” 9:29 They are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out with great strength and powerful leadership.⁵²