Deuteronomy 9

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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, 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,
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 lofty, the sons of the Anakim, whom you yourselves have seen and heard, against whom no one is able to stand.
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 Therefore, 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.
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 You 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.’
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 For 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.
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 Therefore, 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.
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, 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.
8 At Horeb you so provoked the LORD that he was angry enough to destroy you,	8 For at Horeb also, you provoked him, and, becoming angry, he was willing 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 when 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.
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 And 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.
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 And when forty days, and as many nights, had passed, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, 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 And 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.’
13 I have seen now how stiff-necked this people is,' the LORD said to me.	13 And again, the Lord said to me: ‘I discern that this people is stiff-necked.
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 Depart 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.’
15 "When I had come down again from the blazing, fiery mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in both my hands,	15 And as I was descending from the burning mountain, and I held the two tablets of the covenant with both hands,
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 and 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,
17 Raising the two tablets with both hands I threw them from me and broke them before your eyes.	17 I threw down the tablets from my hands, and I broke them in your sight.
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 And 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.
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 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.
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 Likewise, he became vehemently angry against Aaron, and he was willing to destroy him, and I prayed for him similarly.
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 But 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.
22 "At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah likewise, you provoked the LORD to anger.	22 Likewise, at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord.
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 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.
24 Ever since I have known you, you have been rebels against the LORD.	24 Instead, you were ever rebellious, from the day when I first began to know you.
25 "Those forty days, then, and forty nights, I lay prostrate before the LORD, because he had threatened to destroy you.	25 And 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.
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 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.
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. Do not look upon the stubbornness of this people, nor upon their wickedness and sinfulness.
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 Otherwise, 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.”
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 These are your people and your inheritance, whom you have led out by your great strength, and with your outstretched arm.’ ”