1 ` Hear, Israel, thou art passing over to-day the Jordan, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself; cities great and fenced in the heavens;

“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.

2 a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom thou -- thou hast known, (and thou -- thou hast heard: Who doth station himself before sons of Anak?)

The 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?’

3 a nd thou hast known to-day, that Jehovah thy God He who is passing over before thee -- a fire consuming; He doth destroy them, and He doth humble them before thee, and thou hast dispossessed them, and destroyed them hastily, as Jehovah hath spoken to thee.

But 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.

4 ` Thou dost not speak in thy heart (in Jehovah thy God's driving them away from before thee), saying, For my righteousness hath Jehovah brought me in to possess this land, seeing for the wickedness of these nations is Jehovah dispossessing them from thy presence;

But 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.

5 n ot for thy righteousness, and for the uprightness of thy heart, art thou going in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations is Jehovah thy God dispossessing them from before thee; and in order to establish the word which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;

It 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.

6 a nd thou hast known, that not for thy righteousness is Jehovah thy God giving to thee this good land to possess it, for a people stiff of neck thou.

Understand 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.

7 ` Remember -- do not forget -- that which thou hast made Jehovah thy God wroth in the wilderness; even from the day that thou hast come out of the land of Egypt till your coming in unto this place rebels ye have been with Jehovah;

“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.

8 e ven in Horeb ye have made Jehovah wroth, and Jehovah sheweth Himself angry against you -- to destroy you.

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

9 ` In my going up into the mount to receive the tables of stone (tables of the covenant which Jehovah hath made with you), and I abide in the mount forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk;

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.

10 a nd Jehovah giveth unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them according to all the words which Jehovah hath spoken with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.

Then 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.

11 ` And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, Jehovah hath given unto me the two tables of stone -- tables of the covenant,

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

12 a nd Jehovah saith unto me, Rise, go down, hasten from this, for thy people hath done corruptly, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt; they have turned aside hastily out of the way which I have commanded them -- they have made to themselves a molten thing!

Then 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.’

13 ` And Jehovah speaketh unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and lo, a people stiff of neck it;

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

14 d esist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make thee become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.

Let 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.’

15 ` And I turn, and come down from the mount, and the mount is burning with fire, and the two tables of the covenant on my two hands,

So 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.

16 a nd I see, and lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah your God; ye have made to yourselves a molten calf; ye have turned aside hastily out of the way which Jehovah hath commanded you.

And 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.

17 ` And I lay hold on the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes,

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

18 a nd I throw myself before Jehovah, as at first, forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk, because of all your sins which ye have sinned, by doing the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to make Him angry.

Then 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.

19 ` For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which Jehovah hath been wroth against you, to destroy you; and Jehovah doth hearken unto me also at this time.

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

20 ` And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time;

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

21 a nd your sin, which ye have made -- the calf -- I have taken, and I burn it with fire, and beat it, grinding well till that it small as dust, and I cast its dust unto the brook which is going down out of the mount.

Then 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.

22 ` And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth-Hattaavah, ye have been making Jehovah wroth:

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

23 a nd in Jehovah's sending you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up, and possess the land which I have given to you, then ye provoke the mouth of Jehovah your God, and have not given credence to Him, nor hearkened to His voice;

The 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.

24 r ebels ye have been with Jehovah from the day of my knowing you.

You have gone against the Lord from the day I first knew you.

25 ` And I throw myself before Jehovah, the forty days and the forty nights, as I had thrown myself, for Jehovah hath said -- to destroy you;

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

26 a nd I pray unto Jehovah, and say, Lord Jehovah, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast ransomed in Thy greatness; whom Thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand;

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.

27 b e mindful of Thy servants, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, turn not unto the stiffness of this people, and unto its wickedness, and unto its sin;

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

28 l est the land say from which Thou hast brought us out, Because of Jehovah's want of ability to bring them in unto the land of which He hath spoken to them, and because of His hating them, He brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness;

Or 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.”

29 a nd they Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast brought out by Thy great power, and by Thy stretched-out arm!

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