Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness
1Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 3But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
4After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. 5It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
The Golden Calf
7Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. 9When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. 10The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
11At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”
13And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”
15So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 16When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.
18Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. 19I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. 20And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. 21Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.
22You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.
23And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or obey him. 24You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.
25I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. 28Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’ 29But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”
以色列人的悖逆
1「以色列人啊，你們要聽！今天你們要過約旦河，去趕出那些比你們強大的民族。他們住在城牆高聳入雲的大城裡， 2是長得高大威猛的亞衲人。你們瞭解他們，也聽人說過，『誰能抵擋亞衲人呢？』 3但今天你們要知道，你們的上帝耶和華要走在你們前面，像烈火一樣吞噬他們。祂要制伏他們，使你們迅速趕走他們，毀滅他們，正如祂對你們的應許。
4「你們的上帝耶和華從你們面前趕走他們以後，你們心裡不要以為耶和華帶領你們佔領那片土地是因為你們公義，其實是因為那裡的民族邪惡，耶和華才將他們從你們面前趕走。 5你們能佔領他們的土地並非因為你們公義、行為正直。你們的上帝耶和華從你們面前趕走那些民族，是因為他們邪惡，也是為了實現祂給你們祖先亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的誓言。 6你們要知道，耶和華賜給你們那佳美之地不是因為你們公義。其實你們是頑固不化的人。
7「要牢記你們在曠野怎樣觸怒你們的上帝耶和華。從你們離開埃及那天來到這裡，你們屢屢背叛耶和華。 8在何烈山，你們觸怒了耶和華，以致祂要毀滅你們。 9那時，我上山去接受耶和華與你們立約的石版，在山上待了四十晝夜，沒吃也沒喝。 10耶和華把兩塊立約的石版交給我，上面刻著那天你們聚會時祂在山上的火焰中對你們說的話，是祂用手指刻上去的。 11四十晝夜後，耶和華把那兩塊刻著約的石版交給我， 12對我說，『快下山吧，因為你從埃及領出來的百姓已經敗壞了。他們這麼快就偏離了我吩咐他們走的道，為自己鑄造了神像。』
13「耶和華又對我說，『我已看出，這是頑固不化的百姓。 14不要攔我，我要毀滅他們，從世上抹去他們的名字。我要使你成為一個比他們更強大的民族。』 15我雙手拿著那兩塊約版，轉身從烈火熊熊的山上下來， 16看見你們為自己鑄造了牛犢像，得罪了你們的上帝耶和華，這麼快就偏離了耶和華吩咐你們走的道， 17就當著你們的面摔碎了那兩塊石版。
18「我又俯伏在耶和華面前，四十晝夜不吃不喝，因為你們犯了大罪，做耶和華憎惡的事，惹祂發怒。 19耶和華向你們發烈怒，要毀滅你們，我非常懼怕。但耶和華再次垂聽了我的祈求。 20耶和華對亞倫非常憤怒，以致要殺掉他，於是我也為他祈求。 21我焚燒了你們鑄造的罪惡之物牛犢像，把它打碎、磨成粉末，撒在從山上流下來的溪水中。
22「你們在他備拉、瑪撒和基博羅·哈他瓦三番四次地觸怒耶和華。 23你們的上帝耶和華吩咐你們離開加低斯·巴尼亞，去佔領祂賜給你們的土地，你們卻違背祂的命令，不信靠祂，也不聽從祂。 24自從我認識你們以來，你們就不斷地背叛耶和華。
25「因為耶和華說要毀滅你們，我就俯伏在耶和華面前四十晝夜， 26向祂祈求說，『主耶和華啊，求你不要毀滅你的子民！他們是你的產業，是你用大能的手從埃及救贖並帶出來的。 27求你看在你僕人亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的份上，不要計較這個民族的頑固、邪惡和罪過， 28免得你帶領我們離開之地的人說，你不能把他們領到你應許給他們的地方，你憎惡他們，所以把他們帶到曠野殺了。 29他們畢竟是你的子民，你的產業，是你伸出大能的臂膀從埃及帶出來的。』
