Deuteronomy 9:7-29 - Israel's Rebellion And Moses' Intercession

⁷ Remember, {do not forget}, 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} 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} to receive {the stone tablets}, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh {made} with you, and remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights, 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} at the end of forty days and forty nights, 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}, 'I have seen this people, and look! {They are a stubborn people}. 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, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; 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} my two hands and smashed them before your eyes. ¹⁸ And [then] I lay prostrate {before} Yahweh, as earlier, forty days and forty nights; 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} 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}. ²⁰ And with Aaron Yahweh was {angry enough} 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}.

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}, '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}.

²⁵ "And I lay prostrate before Yahweh through forty days, and through forty nights 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, whom you brought out from Egypt with a strong hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you must not {pay attention to} 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} 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.'