Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 299
8:19–9:14
D e u teronom y
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power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to
your ancestors with an oath.
“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. 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.
“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! The people are
strong and t all—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard
the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’ 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.
“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. 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. 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.
“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. Even at Mount Sinai you made the
Lord so angry he was ready to destroy you. 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. 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.
“At the end of the forty days and nights, the Lord handed me the two
stone tablets inscribed with the words of the covenant. 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!’
“The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious
these people are. Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their
