Deuteronomy 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Listen, Israel: You are about to cross the Jordan today to go in and drive out nations bigger and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls reaching up to the sky.

A people great and tall — the descendants of the Anakim, who you know about. You've heard it said, 'Who can stand up against the descendants of Anak?'

But understand today that Yahweh your God is the one crossing over ahead of you like a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down in front of you, so that you can drive them out and wipe them away quickly, just as Yahweh promised you.

When Yahweh your God pushes them out ahead of you, don't tell yourself, 'It's because I'm so upright that Yahweh brought me in to take over this land.' No — it's because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is driving them out ahead of you.

It is not because of your uprightness or your integrity that you are going in to take over their land. Rather, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh your God is driving them out ahead of you, and to keep the promise that Yahweh swore to your ancestors — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Understand this: Yahweh your God is not giving you this good land to take over because of your uprightness — because you are a stiff-necked people.

Remember this — don't forget it: You made Yahweh your God furious in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebelling against Yahweh.

Even at Horeb you made Yahweh so furious that he was angry enough to destroy you.

When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets — the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh made with you — I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I didn't eat any food or drink any water.

And Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets, written by God's own finger, with all the words that Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

At the end of the forty days and forty nights, Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets—the tablets of the covenant.

Then Yahweh said to me, 'Get up, go down from here quickly, because your people that you brought out of Egypt have ruined everything. They've already turned away from the path I commanded them to follow. They've made themselves a cast metal idol.'

Yahweh also said to me, 'I've been watching this people, and they are definitely a stiff-necked people.'

'Let me alone so I can destroy them and wipe out even the memory of their name from under the sky. Then I'll make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than them.'

So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

And I looked, and there it was — you had failed Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a calf out of cast metal. You had already turned away from the path that Yahweh had commanded you to follow.

So I grabbed the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands, and I smashed them right in front of you.

Then I fell facedown before Yahweh like the first time — forty days and forty nights. I didn't eat any food or drink any water — because of all the wrong you had done, doing what was evil in Yahweh's eyes, provoking him.

I was terrified of Yahweh's fierce anger — he was furious enough with you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time too.

Yahweh was also furious enough with Aaron to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time too.

And that thing you had made — that calf — I took it and burned it in the fire, crushed it and ground it down thoroughly until it was as fine as dust. Then I threw the dust into the stream that flowed down from the mountain.

And at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you kept making Yahweh furious.

And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and take over the land that I've given you,' you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God. You didn't trust him and you didn't listen to his voice.

You have been rebelling against Yahweh from the day I first knew you.

So I fell facedown before Yahweh for those forty days and forty nights—because Yahweh had said he would destroy you.

I prayed to Yahweh and said, 'Master Yahweh, don't destroy your people — your own special possession that you rescued through your greatness, that you brought out of Egypt with a powerful hand.'

'Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don't pay attention to this people's stubbornness, their wickedness, or their failure — '

'Otherwise the people in the land you brought us out of will say, "Yahweh wasn't able to bring them into the land he promised them" and "He hated them, so he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness."'

'But they are your people — your own special possession — that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.'