Christian Standard Bible

English Standard Version

1"Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and drive out nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

1“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

2The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, 'Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?'

2a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

3But understand that today the LORD your God will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; he will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the LORD has told you.

3Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

4When the LORD your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, 'The LORD brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' Instead, the LORD will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

4“Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

5You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the LORD your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

5Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6Understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

6“Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

7"Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the LORD from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

7Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

8You provoked the LORD at Horeb, and he was angry enough with you to destroy you.

8Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

9When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water.

9When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

10On the day of the assembly the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God's finger. The exact words were on them, which the LORD spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

10And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11The LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

11And at the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12"The LORD said to me, 'Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.'

12Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

13The LORD also said to me, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

13“Furthermore, the LORD said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people.

14Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.'

14Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15"So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

15So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the LORD had commanded for you.

16And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

17So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

17So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18I fell down like the first time in the presence of the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and angering him.

18Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger.

19I was afraid of the fierce anger the LORD had directed against you, because he was about to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me on that occasion.

19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

20The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

20And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

21I took the sinful calf you had made and burned it. I crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust, and threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

21Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

22"You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

22“At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

23When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, he said, 'Go up and possess the land I have given you'; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not believe or obey him.

23And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.

24You have been rebelling against the LORD ever since I have known you.

24You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

25"I fell down in the presence of the LORD forty days and forty nights because the LORD had threatened to destroy you.

25“So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

26I prayed to the LORD: Lord GOD, do not annihilate your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

26And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people's stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

27Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,

28Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, 'Because the LORD wasn't able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.'

28lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.”

29But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.

29For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.