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¹ "Hear, Israel, you are about to cross the Jordan today to go to dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you, great cities fortified with high walls,^{[a] 2} a great and tall people, the sons of the Anakites, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who could stand before the sons of Anak?' ³ You should know today^[b] that Yahweh your God is the one crossing ahead of you^[c] as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you; so you will dispossess them, and you will destroy them quickly, just as^[d] Yahweh promised^[e] you.

⁴ "You shall not say to yourself^[f] when Yahweh your God is driving them out^[g] before you,^[h] saying,^[i] ‘Because of my righteousness Yahweh brought me to take possession of this land'; but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh is driving them out before you.^{[j] 5} It is not because of your righteousness and because of the uprightness of your heart that you are coming to take possession of their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God is driving them before you,^[k] and in order to confirm the promise^[l] that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,^[m] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ "So you should understand that it is not because of your righteousness that Yahweh your God is giving you this good land to take possession of it, because you are a stubborn people. ^{[n] 7} Remember, do not forget,^[o] that you provoked Yahweh your God in the desert, and from the day that you went out from the land of Egypt until you came to this place^[p] you were rebelling against Yahweh.

⁸ "And remember at Horeb you provoked Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain^[q] to receive the stone tablets,^[r] the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh made^[s] with you, and remained on the mountain forty days^[t] and forty nights,^[u] I did not eat food and I did not drink water. ¹⁰ And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was writing according to all the words that Yahweh spoke with you at the mountain, from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ And then^[v] at the end of forty days^[w] and forty nights,^[x] Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² And Yahweh said to me, ‘Come now, go down quickly from this mountain because your people behave corruptly whom you brought out from Egypt, for they turned quickly from the way that I commanded them to follow; they have made for themselves a cast image.' ¹³ And Yahweh spoke to me, saying,^[y] ‘I have seen this people, and look! They are a stubborn people.^{[z] 14} Leave me alone, and let me destroy them, and let me blot out their name from under heaven, and let me make you into a nation mightier and more numerous than they!'

¹⁵ "And I turned, and I went down the mountain, as the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I looked,^[aa] and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you had made for yourselves an image of a calf of cast metal; ^[ab] you had turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded for you. ¹⁷ And I took hold of the two tablets, and I threw them out of^[ac] my two hands and smashed them before your eyes. ¹⁸ And then I lay prostrate before^[ad] Yahweh, as earlier, forty days^[ae] and forty nights;^[af] I did not eat food and I did not drink water because of all your sins that you committed, by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh and so provoking him. ¹⁹ For I was in dread^[ag] from being in the presence of the anger and the wrath with which Yahweh was angry with you so as to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me also at that time.^{[ah] 20} And with Aaron Yahweh was angry enough^[ai] to destroy him, and I prayed also for Aaron at that time. ²¹ And your sinful thing that you had made, the molten calf, I took and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was crushed to dust, and I threw its dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.^[aj]

²² "And also at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to anger. ²³ And when Yahweh sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, saying,^[ak] ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe him, and you did not listen to his voice. ²⁴ You have been rebellious toward Yahweh from the day I have known you.^[al]

²⁵ "And I lay prostrate before Yahweh through forty days,^[am] and through forty nights^[an] I prostrated myself, because Yahweh intended to kill you. ²⁶ And I prayed to Yahweh, and I said, ‘Lord Yahweh, you must not destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed in your greatness,^[ao] whom you brought out from Egypt with a strong hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you must not pay attention to^[ap] the stubbornness of this people, to their wickedness and to their sin, ²⁸ lest the people of the land from which you brought us out from there say, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring them to the land that he promised^[aq] to them and because of his hatred toward them, he has brought them out to kill them in the desert." ²⁹ For they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought with your great power and with your outstretched arm.'