1 Listen, Israel: you are to cross the Jordan today to take the land of greater and stronger nations than yourself, nations with grand cities whose walls reach up to heaven.
2 They are a great people, they are tall—the Anakites whom you have seen and of whom you heard it said that nothing can overcome them.
3 But today you will see Yahweh, your God, crossing the Jordan before you. He will destroy them all and he will subject them to you. Then, you will seize the land from them and make them perish, as Yahweh promised you.
4 When Yahweh, your God, has des troyed them in your presence, do not think: ‘Yahweh brought me to this land and gave it to me be cause of my own goodness.’ Yahweh drove those nations out because of their wickedness.
5 It is not by your merits nor because you are good that you will conquer the land: Yahweh will deprive them of the land because they have done evil, and also to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
You are a stiff-necked people
6 Know, therefore, that Yahweh has given you your inheritance, this excellent land, not because of any merit of yours since you are a rebellious people.
7 Re mem ber and do not forget that it was be cause you rebelled that Yahweh became angry with you in the desert, for you have been rebellious towards Yahweh from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here.
8 Then at Horeb, you provoked his anger and he was ready to destroy you.
9 When I went up the mountain to receive the slabs of stone, the tables of the Covenant that Yah weh made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking.
10 And Yahweh gave me the two slabs of stone written with his finger, containing all the words that he told you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, on the day of the Assembly.
11 And when Yahweh gave me the two slabs of stone, the tables of the Covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights,
12 he said to me: “Go down from this mountain at once because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt, they have suddenly abandoned the way that I taught them and they have made an idol for themselves.”
13 And Yahweh also said to me: “I see this people; they are a rebellious people.
14 Let me alone and I will destroy them and wipe out their name from under heaven. And out of you, I will make ano ther people more numerous and greater than they.”
15 I, therefore, went down from the mountain, from the summit which was burning, holding in my hands the two tables of the Covenant.
16 And I saw that you had sinned against Yahweh, your God, and that you had made a molten calf.
17 How suddenly had you turned aside from the way which Yahweh had taught you! Holding the two slabs with both hands, I hurled them down and broke them into pieces in the sight of all.
18 Then I fell prostrate before Yahweh and, as before, I passed forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking, for the sin which you had committed by doing evil in the sight of Yahweh and arousing his anger.
19 I was afraid that the wrath and anger of Yahweh against you had reached the point that he wanted to destroy you. And Yahweh listened to me, once more.
20 Yahweh was also very angry with Aaron and he was ready to destroy him. In the same way, I interceded for Aaron also.
21 Regarding the sin, that calf which you had made—I threw it in the fire, broke it into pieces and ground it until it was fine as dust. Then I threw the dust into the brook that flows down from the mountain.
22 At Taberah and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattavah, you provoked the wrath of Yahweh.
23 And when he wanted you to leave Kadesh-barnea saying,“Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,” you rebelled again. You did not believe Yahweh nor did you want to listen to his voice.
24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh ever since I have known you.
25 So, I lay prostrate before Yahweh for forty days and forty nights because he said he would destroy you.
26 I prayed to Yahweh and said to him: “O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you redeemed with your might, whom you brought out of Egypt with the strength of your hand.
27 Re mem ber your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness, or on their sins,
28 that it may not be said in the land from which you brought us out: ‘Yahweh was not able to bring them to the land which he had promised them. He does not like them, so he brought them out of Egypt to slay them in the desert.’
29 Do not forget that they are your people and your possession whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and outstretched arm.”
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Comments Deuteronomy, Chapter 9
• 9.6 Israel is a rebellious people. This is the way we translate the biblical expression: “stiff-necked peo ple,” or difficult to lead. Is this only a reproach? From the very beginning Israel was an independent people, with a passion for freedom; they never worshiped their leaders but were always arguing and fighting with everyone, including their God. The parable of the prodigal son helps us to understand why God so loved these people, and why, even now, they continue to be the “firstborn” of God among all the nations of the earth.