8:16. And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,
8:17. Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.
8:18. But remember the Lord thy G.o.d, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.
8:19. But if thou forget the Lord thy G.o.d, and follow strange G.o.ds, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.
8:20. As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your G.o.d.
Deuteronomy Chapter 9
Lest they should impute their victories to their own merits, they are put in mind of their manifold rebellions and other sins, for which they should have been destroyed, but G.o.d spared them for his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
9:1. Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled up to the sky,
9:2. A people great and tall, the sons of the Enacims, whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to stand.
9:3. Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy G.o.d himself will pa.s.s over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly, as he hath spoken to thee.
9:4. Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy G.o.d shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness.
9:5. For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that the Lord might aaccomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
9:6. Know therefore that the Lord thy G.o.d giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiffnecked people.
9:7. Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy G.o.d to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord.
9:8. For in h.o.r.eb, also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have destroyed thee,
9:9. When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water.
9:10. And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of G.o.d, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were a.s.sembled together.
9:11. And when forty days were pa.s.sed, and as many nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant,
9:12. And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol.
9:13. And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is stiffnecked:
9:14. Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this.
9:15. And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two tables of the covenant with both hands,
9:16. And saw that you had sinned against the Lord your G.o.d, and had made to yourselves a molten calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you:
9:17. I cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight.
9:18. And I fell down before the Lord as before, forty days and nights neither eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath:
9:19. For I feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also.
9:20. And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him.
9:21. And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took, and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the mountain.
9:22. At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the graves of l.u.s.t you provoked the Lord:
9:23. And when he sent you from Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you, and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your G.o.d, and did not believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice:
9:24. But were always rebellious from the day that I began to know you.
9:25. And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had threatened:
9:26. And praying, I said: O Lord G.o.d, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.
9:27. Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin:
9:28. Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness,
9:29. Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.
Deuteronomy Chapter 10
G.o.d giveth the second tables of the law: a further exhortation to fear and serve the Lord.
10:1. At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of wood,
10:2. And I will write on the tables the words that were in them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
10:3. And I made an ark of setim wood. And when I had hewn two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands.
10:4. And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were a.s.sembled: and he gave them to me.
10:5. And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this present, as the Lord commanded me.
10:6. And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth, of the children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office.
Mosera... By mount Hor, for there Aaron died, Num. 20. This and the following verses seem to be inserted by way of parenthesis.
10:7. From thence they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents.
10:8. At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day.
10:9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy G.o.d promised him.
10:10. And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee.
10:11. And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.