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sin you had committed by doing what the Lord
hated, provoking him to anger. 19 I feared that
the furious anger of the Lord, which turned
him against you, would drive him to destroy
you. But again he listened to me. 20 The Lord
was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him, too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the
Lord spared him. 21 I took your sin—the calf you
had made—and I melted it down in the fire and
ground it into fine dust. Then I threw the dust
into the stream that flows down the mountain.
22 “You also made the Lord angry at Taberah,* Massah,* and Kibroth-hattaavah.* 23 And
at Kadesh-barnea the Lord sent you out with
this command: ‘Go up and take over the land
I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the
command of the Lord your God and refused to
put your trust in him or obey him. 24 Yes, you
have been rebelling against the Lord as long as
I have known you.
25 “That is why I threw myself down before
the Lord for forty days and nights—for the Lord
said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the
Lord and said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy
them. They are your own people. They are your
special possession, whom you redeemed from
Egypt by your mighty power and your strong
hand. 27 Please overlook the stubbornness and
the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will
say, “The Israelites died because the Lord wasn’t
able to bring them to the land he had promised
to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed
them because he hated them; he deliberately
took them into the wilderness to slaughter
them.” 29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt
by your great strength and powerful arm.’
A New Copy of the Covenant
“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Chisel
out two stone tablets like the first ones.
Also make a wooden Ark—a sacred chest to
store them in. Come up to me on the mountain,
2 and I will write on the tablets the same words
that were on the ones you smashed. Then place
the tablets in the Ark.’
3 “So I made an Ark of acacia wood and cut
two stone tablets like the first two. Then I went
up the mountain with the tablets in my hand.
4 Once again the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments* on the tablets and gave them to me. They
were the same words the Lord had spoken to
you from the heart of the fire on the day you were
assembled at the foot of the mountain. 5 Then
10
9:22a Taberah means “place of burning.” See Num 11:1-3.
9:22b Massah means “place of testing.” See Exod 17:1-7.
9:22c Kibroth-hattaavah means “graves of gluttony.” See
Num 11:31-34. 10:4 Hebrew the ten words. 10:6 Or set
out from Beeroth of Bene-jaakan. 10:16 Hebrew circumcise
the foreskin of your hearts.
DEUTER ONOM Y 10
I turned and came down the mountain and
placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant,
which I had made, just as the Lord commanded
me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark.”
6 (The people of Israel set out from the wells
of the people of Jaakan* and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son
Eleazar ministered as high priest in his place.
7 Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from
there to Jotbathah, a land with many brooks
and streams. 8 At that time the Lord set apart
the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Lord’s
Covenant, and to stand before the Lord as his
ministers, and to pronounce blessings in his
name. These are their duties to this day. 9 That
is why the Levites have no share of property or
possession of land among the other Israelite
tribes. The Lord himself is their special possession, as the Lord your God told them.)
10 “As for me, I stayed on the mountain in the
Lord’s presence for forty days and nights, as
I had done the first time. And once again the
Lord listened to my pleas and agreed not to destroy you. 11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up
and resume the journey, and lead the people to
the land I swore to give to their ancestors, so
they may take possession of it.’
A Call to Love and Obedience
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your
God require of you? He requires only that you
fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that
pleases him, and love him and serve him with
all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always
obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I
am giving you today for your own good.
14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth
and everything in it all belong to the Lord your
God. 15 Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the
objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident
today. 16 Therefore, change your hearts* and
stop being stubborn.
• Priorities
DE U TE R ON OM Y 10:12-13
The Bible says that loving and obeying
God is the most important thing we can
do, for what else affects our eternal
future so significantly? We must live here,
remembering that we will spend most of
our lives there, in heaven. When was the
last time you had a long talk with God?
How often in a week do you read his
Word? Do your words and actions prove
to others that God and God’s ways are
the top priorities of your life?