Deuteronomy 9

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 "Hear, O Israel! You are now about to cross the Jordan to enter in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourselves, having large cities fortified to the sky,	1 'Listen, Israel; today you are about to cross the Jordan, to go and dispossess nations greater andstronger than yourself, and cities immense, with walls reaching to the sky.
2 the Anakim, a people great and tall. You know of them and have heard it said of them, 'Who can stand up against the Anakim?'	2 A people great and tal , these Anakim, as you know; you have heard the saying: Who can stand up tothe sons of Anak?
3 Understand, then, today that it is the LORD, your God, who will cross over before you as a consuming fire; he it is who will reduce them to nothing and subdue them before you, so that you can drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD promised you.	3 Know then today that Yahweh your God himself wil go ahead of you, destroying them like a devouringfire, and that he himself wil subdue them before you so that you can dispossess and quickly make an end ofthem, as Yahweh has already said.
4 After the LORD, your God, has thrust them out of your way, do not say to yourselves, 'It is because of my merits that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; for it is really because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.	4 Do not think to yourself, once Yahweh your God has driven them before you, "Yahweh has brought meinto possession of this country because I am upright," when Yahweh is dispossessing these nations for you,because they do wrong.
5 No, it is not because of your merits or the integrity of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land; but the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out before you on account of their wickedness and in order to keep the promise which he made on oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.	5 You are not going into their country to take possession because of any right behaviour or uprightnesson your part; rather, it is because of their wickedness that Yahweh is dispossessing these nations for you, andalso to keep the pact which he swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
6 Understand this, therefore: it is not because of your merits that the LORD, your God, is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.	6 Be clear about this: Yahweh is not giving you possession of this fine country because of any rightconduct on your part, for you are an obstinate people.
7 "Bear in mind and do not forget how you angered the LORD, your God, in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious toward the LORD.	7 'Remember; never forget how you provoked Yahweh your God in the desert. From the very day thatyou left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebels against Yahweh.
8 At Horeb you so provoked the LORD that he was angry enough to destroy you,	8 At Horeb, you provoked Yahweh, and Yahweh was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
9 when I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you. Meanwhile I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking,	9 I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh wasmaking with you. I stayed forty days and forty nights on the mountain, with nothing to eat or drink.
10 till the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone inscribed, by God's own finger, with a copy of all the words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.	10 Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God, exactly corresponding to whatYahweh had said to you on the mountain, from the heart of the fire, on the day of the Assembly.
11 Then, at the end of the forty days and forty nights, when the LORD had given me the two stone tablets of the covenant,	11 After forty days and forty nights, having given me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant,
12 he said to me, 'Go down from here now, quickly, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have become depraved; they have already turned aside from the way I pointed out to them and have made for themselves a molten idol.	12 Yahweh said to me, "Get up, go down quickly, for your people, whom you have brought out of Egypt,are corrupting one another. They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have castthemselves a metal idol."
13 I have seen now how stiff-necked this people is,' the LORD said to me.	13 Yahweh then said to me, "I have seen this people, and what an obstinate people they are!
14 'Let me be, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens. I will then make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'	14 Leave me, I am going to destroy them and wipe out their name under heaven; and I shal make youinto a mightier and more numerous nation than they are!"
15 "When I had come down again from the blazing, fiery mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in both my hands,	15 'I went back down the mountain, which was blazing with fire, and in my hands were the two tablets ofthe covenant.
16 I saw how you had sinned against the LORD, your God: you had already turned aside from the way which the LORD had pointed out to you by making for yourselves a molten calf!	16 When I looked, I saw that you had been sinning against Yahweh your God. You had cast yourselves ametal calf; you had been quick to leave the way marked out for you by Yahweh.
17 Raising the two tablets with both hands I threw them from me and broke them before your eyes.	17 I seized the two tablets and with my two hands threw them down and broke them before your eyes.
18 Then, as before, I lay prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking, because of all the sin you had committed in the sight of the LORD and the evil you had done to provoke him.	18 Then I fel prostrate before Yahweh; as before, I spent forty days and forty nights with nothing to eat ordrink, on account of al the sins which you had committed, by doing what was displeasing to Yahweh and thusarousing his anger.
19 For I dreaded the fierce anger of the LORD against you: his wrath would destroy you. Yet once again the LORD listened to me.	19 For I was afraid of this anger, of the fury which so roused Yahweh against you that he was ready todestroy you. And, once again, Yahweh heard my prayer.
20 With Aaron, too, the LORD was deeply angry, and would have killed him had I not prayed for him also at that time.	20 Yahweh was enraged with Aaron and was ready to destroy him too; I also pleaded for Aaron on thatoccasion.
21 Then, taking the calf, the sinful object you had made, and fusing it with fire, I ground it down to powder as fine as dust, which I threw into the wadi that went down the mountainside.	21 That work of sin, the calf you had made, I took and burned and broke to pieces; having ground it to thefinest dust, I threw its dust into the stream that comes down from the mountain.
22 "At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah likewise, you provoked the LORD to anger.	22 'At Taberah too and at Massah and Kibroth-ha-Taavah, you provoked Yahweh.
23 And when he sent you up from Kadesh-barnea to take possession of the land he was giving you, you rebelled against this command of the LORD, your God, and would not trust or obey him.	23 And when Yahweh, meaning you to leave Kadesh-Barnea, said, "Go up and take possession of thecountry which I have given you," you rebel ed against the command of Yahweh your God and would not believehim or listen to his voice.
24 Ever since I have known you, you have been rebels against the LORD.	24 You have been rebels against Yahweh from the day he first knew you.
25 "Those forty days, then, and forty nights, I lay prostrate before the LORD, because he had threatened to destroy you.	25 'So I fell prostrate before Yahweh and lay there those forty days and forty nights, Yahweh having saidthat he was going to destroy you.
26 This was my prayer to him: O Lord GOD, destroy not your people, the heritage which your majesty has ransomed and brought out of Egypt with your strong hand.	26 And I pleaded with Yahweh. "My Lord Yahweh," I said, "do not destroy your people, your heritagewhom in your greatness you have redeemed, whom you have brought out of Egypt with your mighty hand.
27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Look not upon the stubbornness of this people nor upon their wickedness and sin,	27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; take no notice of this people's stubbornness,their wickedness, and their sin,
28 lest the people from whose land you have brought us say, 'The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he promised them'; or 'Out of hatred for them, he brought them out to slay them in the desert.'	28 so that, in the country from which you have brought us, it may not be said, 'Yahweh was not able tobring them to the country which he had promised them. He hated them; that was why he brought them out -- toslaughter them in the desert.'
29 They are, after all, your people and your heritage, whom you have brought out by your great power and with your outstretched arm.	29 But these are your people, your heritage, whom you yourself have brought out by your great powerand your outstretched arm." '