HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 538
D EU T ERO N O MY 9
child, the Lord your God disciplines you for
your own good.
6 “So obey the commands of the Lord your
God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into
a good land of flowing streams and pools of
water, with fountains and springs that gush out
in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land of wheat
and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. 9 It is a land
where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking.
It is a land where iron is as common as stone,
and copper is abundant in the hills. 10 When you
have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord
your God for the good land he has given you.
11 “But that is the time to be careful! Beware
that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord
your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.
12 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13 and
when your flocks and herds have become very
large and your silver and gold have multiplied
along with everything else, be careful! 14 Do not
become proud at that time and forget the Lord
your God, who rescued you from slavery in the
land of Egypt. 15 Do not forget that he led you
through the great and terrifying wilderness with
its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it
was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the
rock! 16 He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did
this to humble you and test you for your own
good. 17 He did all this so you would never say
to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my
own strength and energy.’ 18 Remember the Lord
your God. He is the one who gives you power to
be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he
confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.
19 “But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods,
worshiping and bowing down to them, you will
certainly be destroyed. 20 Just as the Lord has
destroyed other nations in your path, you also
will be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord
your God.
Victory by God’s Grace
“Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to
cross the Jordan River to take over the land
belonging to nations much greater and more
powerful than you. They live in cities with walls
that reach to the sky! 2 The people are strong and
tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants.
You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to
the Anakites?’ 3 But recognize today that the
Lord your God is the one who will cross over
ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy
them. He will subdue them so that you will
quickly conquer them and drive them out, just
as the Lord has promised.
9
page 168
4 “After the Lord your God has done this for
you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given
us this land because we are such good people!’
No, it is because of the wickedness of the other
nations that he is pushing them out of your way.
5 It is not because you are so good or have such
integrity that you are about to occupy their land.
The Lord your God will drive these nations out
ahead of you only because of their wickedness,
and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you
this good land because you are good, for you are
not—you are a stubborn people.
Remembering the Gold Calf
7 “Remember and never forget how angry you
made the Lord your God out in the wilderness.
From the day you left Egypt until now, you have
been constantly rebelling against him. 8 Even at
Mount Sinai* you made the Lord so angry he
was ready to destroy you. 9 This happened when
I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of
stone inscribed with the words of the covenant
that the Lord had made with you. I was there
for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I
ate no food and drank no water. 10 The Lord gave
me the two tablets on which God had written
with his own finger all the words he had spoken
to you from the heart of the fire when you were
assembled at the mountain.
11 “At the end of the forty days and nights, the
Lord handed me the two stone tablets inscribed
with the words of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord
said to me, ‘Get up! Go down immediately, for
the people you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have
turned away from the way I commanded them
to live! They have melted gold and made an idol
for themselves!’
13 “The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen
how stubborn and rebellious these people are.
14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and
erase their name from under heaven. Then I will
make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’
15 “So while the mountain was blazing with
fire I turned and came down, holding in my
hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the
terms of the covenant. 16 There below me I could
see that you had sinned against the Lord your
God. You had melted gold and made a calf idol
for yourselves. How quickly you had turned
away from the path the Lord had commanded
you to follow! 17 So I took the stone tablets and
threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.
18 “Then, as before, I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights. I ate no
bread and drank no water because of the great
9:8 Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai.