Deuteronomy 9

Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, ²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? ³Know therefore this day, that Allah your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Allah has spoken to you. ⁴Do not speak in your heart, after that Allah your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Allah has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Allah does drive them out from before you. ⁵Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Allah your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Allah swore to your fathers, to Ibrahim, to Ishaq, and to Yaqub. ⁶Know therefore, that Allah your God does not give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. ⁷Remember, do not forget, how you provoked Allah your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Allah. ⁸Also in Horeb you provoked Allah to wrath, and Allah was angry with you to destroy you. ⁹When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Allah made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. ¹⁰Allah delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which Allah spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. ¹¹It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Allah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. ¹²Allah said to me, Arise, go down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a cast metal image. ¹³Furthermore Allah spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: ¹⁴let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. ¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Allah your God; you had made you a cast metal calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which Allah had commanded you. ¹⁷I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸I fell down before Allah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Allah, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Allah was angry against you to destroy you. But Allah listened to me that time also. ²⁰Allah was very angry with Harun to destroy him: and I prayed for Harun also at the same time. ²¹I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain. ²²At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked Allah to wrath. ²³When Allah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the commandment of Allah your God, and you did not believe him, nor listen to his voice. ²⁴You have been rebellious against Allah from the day that I knew you. ²⁵So I fell down before Allah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Allah had said he would destroy you. ²⁶I prayed to Allah, and said, Lord Allah, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷Remember your servants, Ibrahim, Ishaq, and Yaqub; do not look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, ²⁸lest the land from which you brought us out say, Because Allah was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. ²⁹Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.