Devarim 9

1Shema, Yisroel: Thou art to pass over Yarden today, to go in to possess Goyim greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and walled up to Shomayim,

2A people great and tall, the Bnei Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the Bnei Anak!

3Understand therefore this day, that Hashem Eloheicha is He which goeth over before thee; as a consuming eish He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face; so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as Hashem hath said unto thee.

4Speak not thou in thine lev, after that Hashem Eloheicha hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my tzedakah (righteousness) Hashem hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these Goyim Hashem doth drive them out from before thee.

5Not for thy tzedakah, or for the yosher (uprightness) of thine lev, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these Goyim Hashem Eloheicha doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which Hashem swore unto Avoteicha, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov.

6Understand therefore, that Hashem Eloheicha giveth thee not this ha'aretz hatovah to possess it for thy tzedakah; for thou art an Am Kesheh Oref (a stiffnecked people).

7Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst Hashem Eloheicha to wrath in the midbar; from the yom that thou didst depart out of Eretz Mitzrayim, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against Hashem.

8Also in Chorev ye provoked Hashem to wrath, so that Hashem was angry with you to have destroyed you.

9When I was gone up into the mount to receive the luchot ha’avanim, even the luchot HaBrit which Hashem cut with you, then I abode in the mount arba'im yom and arba'im lailah; I neither did eat lechem nor drink mayim;

10And Hashem delivered unto me shnei luchot ha’avanim written with the etzba Elohim (finger of G-d); and on them was written according to all the words, which Hashem spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the eish in the Yom HaKahal.

11And it came to pass at the end of arba'im yom and arba'im lailah, Hashem gave me the shnei luchot ha’avanim, even the Luchot HaBrit.

12And Hashem said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Mitzrayim have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a massekhah (molten image).

13Furthermore Hashem spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is an Am Kesheh Oref (stiffnecked people):

14Let Me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their shem from under Shomayim; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

15So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with eish; and the shnei Luchot HaBrit were in my two hands.

16And I looked, and, hinei, ye had sinned against Hashem Eloheicha, and had made you an egel massekhah (a molten calf); ye had turned aside quickly out of HaDerech (The Way) which Hashem had commanded you.

17And I took the shnei haluchot, and cast them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18And I fell down before Hashem, as at the first, arba'im yom and arba'im lailah; I did neither eat lechem, nor drink mayim, because of kol chattatchem ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of Hashem, to provoke Him to anger.

19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith Hashem was angry against you to destroy you. But Hashem listened unto me at that time also.

20And Hashem was very angry with Aharon to have made him shmad; and I davened on behalf of Aharon also at that time.

21And I took your sin, the egel which ye had made, and burned it with eish, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust; and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22And at Taverah, and at Massah, and at Kivrot Hattaavah, ye provoked Hashem to wrath.

23Likewise when Hashem sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess ha'aretz which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Hashem Eloheichem, and ye believed Him not, nor gave heed to His voice.

24Ye have been rebellious against Hashem from the yom that I knew you.

25Thus I fell down before Hashem arba'im hayom and arba'im halailah, as I fell down at the first; because Hashem had said He would destroy you.

26I davened therefore unto Hashem, and said, Adonoi Hashem, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, which Thou hast brought forth out of Mitzrayim with a yad chazakah.

27Remember Thy avadim, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin;

28Lest ha'aretz whence Thou broughtest us out say, Because Hashem was not able to bring them into ha'aretz which He promised them, and because He hated them, He hath brought them out to slay them in the midbar.

29Yet they are Thy people and Thine nachalah, which Thou broughtest out by Thy koach hagadol and by Thy outstretched zero'a.