Remembering God’s Grace and the Condition of Obedience
Deuteronomy 9 – 11
Deuteronomy 9 – 11
CHAPTER 9
1 Hear, Israel! Thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to enter in to possess nations greater and mightier than thou, cities great and walled up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak! 3 Know then this day, that Jehovah thy God is he that goeth over before thee, a consuming fire; he will destroy them, and he will cast them down before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them and cause them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath said unto thee. 4 Thou shalt not say in thy heart, when Jehovah thy God thrusteth them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah dispossess them from before thee. 5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 Know therefore that Jehovah thy God doth not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, forget not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah. 8 And at Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you, to destroy you, 9 when I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, and I abode in the mountain forty days and forty nights, — I ate no bread and drank no water, — 10 — and Jehovah delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words which Jehovah spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant. 12 And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them: they have made for themselves a molten image. 13 And Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is 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 thee a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 And I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw, and behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God: ye had made for yourselves a molten calf; ye had quickly turned aside from the way which Jehovah had commanded you. 17 And I seized the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights, — I ate no bread and drank no water, — because of all your sin which ye had sinned, in doing what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and fury wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. And Jehovah listened unto me also at that time. 20 And with Aaron Jehovah was very angry to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small, until it became fine dust; and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that flowed down from the mountain. 22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath. 23 And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you, ye rebelled against the word of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. 24 Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you. 25 So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights, as I fell down; for Jehovah had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed therefore to Jehovah, and said, Lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a powerful hand. 27 Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin; 28 lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he had promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. 29 They are indeed thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out with thy great power and with thy stretched-out arm.
CHAPTER 10
1 At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and come up unto me into the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood; 2 and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou didst break, and thou shalt lay them in the ark. 3 And I made an ark of acacia-wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables in my hand. 4 And he wrote on the tables, as the first writing, the ten words which Jehovah spoke unto you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, on the day of the assembly, and Jehovah gave them unto me. 5 And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; — and they are there, as Jehovah commanded me. 6 (And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-Bene-Jaakan to Moserah: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son exercised the priesthood in his stead. 7 From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.) 8 At that time Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to do service unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy God told him. 10 But I stood upon the mountain according to the former days, forty days and forty nights; and Jehovah listened unto me also at that time: Jehovah would not destroy thee. 11 And Jehovah said unto me, Rise up, take thy journey before the people, that they may enter in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them. 12 And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good? 14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to Jehovah thy God; the earth and all that is therein. 15 Only, Jehovah took pleasure in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day. 16 Circumcise then the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more. 17 For Jehovah your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great GOD, the mighty and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward; 18 who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, to give him food and clothing. 19 And ye shall love the stranger; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; him thou shalt serve, and unto him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. 21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, who hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. 22 With seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt; and now Jehovah thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
CHAPTER 11
1 Thou shalt love then Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments continually. 2 And know ye this day …; for I speak not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his powerful hand, and his stretched-out arm, 3 and his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and unto their chariots, over which he made the water of the Red sea flow as they pursued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them unto this day; 5 — and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came to this place; 6 and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, — how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, with their households, and their tents, and all the living substance that belonged to them, in the midst of all Israel. 7 For your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he hath done. 8 Keep then all the commandment which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and enter in and possess the land, whither ye pass over to possess it; 9 and that ye may prolong your days in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give unto them and unto their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, whither thou enterest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven, 12 a land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13 And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give rain to your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain; and thou shalt gather in thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil; 15 and I will give grass in thy field for thy cattle; and thou shalt eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and bow down to them, 17 and Jehovah’s wrath kindle against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and that the ground yield not its produce, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah is giving you. 18 And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; 20 and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens which are above the earth. 22 For if ye diligently keep all this commandment which I command you this day to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him, 23 then will Jehovah dispossess all these nations from before you, and ye shall take possession of nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall your border be. 25 No man shall be able to stand before you: the fear of you and the dread of you will Jehovah your God lay upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. 26 See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27 a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; 28 and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou enterest in to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, beyond the way toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell on the plain opposite to Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31 For ye pass over the Jordan to enter in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall take possession of it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall take heed to do all the statutes and ordinances which I set before you this day.