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Chapter Summary
It is not for your righteousness that you will occupy the land. You rebelled and made the calf so I broke the tablets of the covenant.
1“Listen, O Israel: You shall cross over the Jordan today, in order to possess nations, very great and stronger than yourself, cities vast and walled even to the sky, 2a people great and lofty, the sons of the Anakim, whom you yourselves have seen and heard, against whom no one is able to stand. 3Therefore, you shall know today that the Lord your God himself will pass over before you, like a devouring and consuming fire, to crush and to wipe away and to utterly ruin them before your face, quickly, just as he has spoken to you. 4You should not say in your heart, when the Lord your God will have destroyed them in your sight: ‘It is because of my justice that the Lord led me in, so that I might possess this land, while these nations have been destroyed because of their impiety.’ 5For it is not because of your justices or the uprightness of your heart that you will enter, so that you may possess their lands. Instead, it is because they have acted wickedly that they are destroyed upon your arrival, and so that the Lord may accomplish his word, which he promised under oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6Therefore, know that the Lord your God will not give you this excellent land as a possession due to your justices, for you are a very stiff-necked people.
7Remember, and never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness. You have always contended against the Lord, from the day that you went forth from Egypt, even to this place. 8For at Horeb also, you provoked him, and, becoming angry, he was willing to destroy you, 9when I ascended onto the mountain, so that I might receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord formed with you. And I persevered on the mountain for forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water. 10And the Lord gave me two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God and containing all the words that he spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of fire, while the people, being stirred up, were assembled together. 11And when forty days, and as many nights, had passed, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12And he said to me: ‘Rise up, and descend quickly from here. For your people, whom you led away from Egypt, have quickly abandoned the way that you have shown to them, and they have made a molten idol for themselves.’ 13And again, the Lord said to me: ‘I discern that this people is stiff-necked. 14Depart from me, so that I may crush them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and appoint you over a nation, which will be greater and stronger than this one.’ 15And as I was descending from the burning mountain, and I held the two tablets of the covenant with both hands, 16and I had seen that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made a molten calf for yourselves, and had quickly abandoned his way, which he had revealed to you, 17I threw down the tablets from my hands, and I broke them in your sight. 18And I fell prostrate before the Lord, just as before, for forty days and nights, not eating bread, and not drinking water, because of all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and because you provoked him to anger. 19For I feared his indignation and wrath, which had been stirred up against you, so that he was willing to destroy you. And the Lord heeded me at this time also. 20Likewise, he became vehemently angry against Aaron, and he was willing to destroy him, and I prayed for him similarly. 21But as for your sin which you committed, that is, the calf, taking hold of it, I burned it with fire. And breaking it into pieces, and reducing it entirely to dust, I threw it into the torrent that descends from the mountain. 22Likewise, at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord. 23And when he sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Ascend and possess the land, which I have given to you,’ even so, you spurned the command of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him, nor were you willing to listen to his voice. 24Instead, you were ever rebellious, from the day when I first began to know you. 25And so, I lay prostrate before the Lord for forty days and nights, as I humbly begged him, lest he destroy you, just as he had threatened to do. 26And praying, I said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed in your greatness, whom you have led away from Egypt with a strong hand. 27Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look upon the stubbornness of this people, nor upon their wickedness and sinfulness. 28Otherwise, perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which you have led us, may say: “The Lord was not able to lead them into the land, which he promised to them. And he hated them; therefore, he led them out, so that he might put them to death in the wilderness.” 29These are your people and your inheritance, whom you have led out by your great strength, and with your outstretched arm.’”