Chapter 9
1 Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day,
to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great
and fortified up to heaven,
2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou
knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say: 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'
3 Know therefore this day, that HaShem thy G-d is He who
goeth over before thee as a devouring fire; He will destroy them, and He will
bring them down before thee; so shalt thou drive them out, and make them to
perish quickly, as HaShem hath spoken unto thee.
4 Speak not thou in thy heart, after that HaShem thy G-d hath
thrust them out from before thee, saying: 'For my righteousness HaShem hath
brought me in to possess this land'; whereas for the wickedness of these nations
HaShem doth drive them out from before thee.
5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy
heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these
nations HaShem thy G-d doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may
establish the word which HaShem swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob.
6 Know therefore that it is not for thy righteousness that
HaShem thy G-d giveth thee this good land to possess it; for thou art a
stiffnecked people.
7 Remember, forget thou not, how thou didst make HaShem thy
G-d wroth in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst go forth out of the
land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against
HaShem.
8 Also in Horeb ye made HaShem wroth, and HaShem was angered
with you to have destroyed you.
9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of
stone, even the tables of the covenant which HaShem made with you, then I abode
in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink
water.
10 And HaShem delivered unto me the two tables of stone
written with the 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 fire in
the day of the assembly.
11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty
nights, that HaShem gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the
covenant.
12 And HaShem said unto me: 'Arise, get thee down quickly
from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have dealt
corruptly; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them;
they have made them a molten image.'
13 Furthermore HaShem spoke unto me, saying: 'I have seen
this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people;
14 let Me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their
name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater
than they.'
15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount
burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against HaShem
your G-d; ye had made you a molten calf; ye had turned aside quickly out of the
way which HaShem had commanded you.
17 And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my
two hands, and broke them before your eyes.
18 And I fell down before HaShem, as at the first, forty days
and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your
sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of HaShem, to
provoke Him.
19 For I was in dread of the anger and hot displeasure,
wherewith HaShem was wroth against you to destroy you. But HaShem hearkened unto
me that time also.
20 Moreover HaShem was very angry with Aaron to have
destroyed him; and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt
it with fire, and beat it in pieces, grinding it very small, until it was as
fine as dust; and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of
the mount.--
22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah,
ye made HaShem wroth.
23 And when HaShem sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying: 'Go
up and possess the land which I have given you'; then ye rebelled against the
commandment of HaShem your G-d, and ye believed Him not, nor hearkened to His
voice.
24 Ye have been rebellious against HaShem from the day that I
knew you.--
25 So I fell down before HaShem the forty days and forty
nights that I fell down; because HaShem had said He would destroy you.
26 And I prayed unto HaShem, and said: 'O L-rd GOD, destroy
not Thy people and Thine inheritance, that Thou hast redeemed through Thy
greatness, that Thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not
unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin;
28 lest the land whence Thou broughtest us out say: Because
HaShem was not able to bring them into the land which He promised unto them, and
because He hated them, He hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
29 Yet they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, that Thou
didst bring out by Thy great power and by Thy outstretched arm.'
Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
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