1 “ Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to take the land that belongs to nations greater and stronger than you, with big cities with walls as high as heaven.

¶ Hear, O Israel: Thou art ready to pass over the Jordan this day to enter in to inherit that of Gentiles greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

2 T he people there are strong and tall, the sons of Anakim. You know of them and have heard it said, ‘Who can stand in front of the sons of Anak?’

A people, great and tall, sons of the Anakims, whom thou knowest and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak!

3 B ut know today that it is the Lord your God Who is crossing over before you as a fire that destroys everything. He will destroy them and bring them down before you. So you may drive them out and be quick to destroy them, just as the Lord has told you.

Understand, therefore, this day that the LORD thy God is he who passes before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them and humble them before thee, and thou shalt drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said unto thee.

4 B ut after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, ‘The Lord has brought me in to take this land because I am right and good.’ It is because of the sin of these nations that the Lord is driving them out in front of you.

Think not in thine heart, after the LORD thy God has cast them out from before thee, saying, Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to inherit this land; rather for the wickedness of these Gentiles the LORD drives them out from before thee.

5 I t is not because of your being right with God that you are going to take their land. But it is because of the sin of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out in front of you. By this the Lord is proving that He keeps the promise He made to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou enter in to inherit their land; but for the wickedness of these Gentiles, the LORD thy God drives them out from before thee and that he may confirm the word which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 U nderstand that it is not because you are right with God that the Lord your God is giving you this good land for your own, for you are a strong-willed people.

Understand, therefore, that the LORD thy God does not give thee this good land to inherit because of thy righteousness, for thou art a stiffnecked people.

7 “ Remember and do not forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You have gone against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place.

¶ Remember, and forget not, how thou hast provoked the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

8 E ven at Mount Sinai you made the Lord angry. The Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

9 I went up the mountain to receive the pieces of stone, the Laws of the agreement which the Lord had made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

When I climbed up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, without eating bread or drinking water;

10 T hen the Lord gave me the two pieces of stone written by the finger of God. On them were all the words the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain from the fire on the day of the meeting.

and the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 A t the end of forty days and nights the Lord gave me the two pieces of stone, the Laws of the agreement.

And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

12 T hen the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Hurry and go down from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become very sinful. They have been quick to turn away from what I told them. They have made a false god for themselves.’

And the LORD said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from here, for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.

13 A nd the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen these people. See, they are strong-willed.

Furthermore, the LORD spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.

14 L et Me alone, so I may destroy them and destroy their name from under heaven. I will make you into a nation that will be greater and stronger than they.’

Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

15 S o I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire. The two pieces of stone of the agreement were in my two hands.

So I turned and came down from the mount with the two tables of the covenant in my two hands and the mount burned with fire,

16 A nd I saw that it was true that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a calf out of gold. You had been quick to turn away from what the Lord had told you.

and I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God and had made yourselves a molten calf; ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.

17 S o I took the two pieces of stone and threw them from my hands, and broke them in front of your eyes.

Then I took the two tables and cast them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 T hen again I fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights. I did not eat bread or drink water, because of all the sin you had done. You did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord and made Him angry.

And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sins in which ye sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

19 I was afraid of the anger of the Lord which was burning against you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me again.

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.

20 T he Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. So I prayed for Aaron at the same time also.

And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him, and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

21 T hen I took your sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it. I ground it into pieces until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the river that flowed down from the mountain.

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire and stamped it and ground it very small even until it was as small as dust, and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22 “ You made the Lord angry again at Taberah, Massah and Kibroth-hattaavah.

Also at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.

23 T he Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go and take for your own the land I have given you.’ But you went against what the Lord your God told you to do. You did not believe Him or listen to His voice.

Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and inherit the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye did not believe him nor hearken to his voice.

24 Y ou have gone against the Lord from the day I first knew you.

Ye have been rebels against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

25 “ So I fell down before the Lord and lay forty days and nights, because the Lord had said He would destroy you.

Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed to the Lord, saying, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your chosen nation, whom You have set free by Your power and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

I prayed, therefore, unto the LORD and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast ransomed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 R emember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not look at the strong will or sin or wrong-doing of these people.

Remember thy slaves, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people nor to their wickedness nor to their sin,

28 O r the land You brought us from may say, “The Lord was not able to bring them into the land He promised them. Because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the desert.”

lest those of the land from which thou didst bring us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them or because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 Y et they are Your people, Your chosen nation, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your long arm.’

Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou didst bring out by thy mighty power and by thy outstretched arm.