Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness; (A)from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even (B)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to anger, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I remained on the mountain for forty days and nights; (C)I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone (D)written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 It came about (E)at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 (F)Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have behaved corruptly. They have (G)quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.’ 13 The (H)Lord also said to [a]me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a [b](I)stubborn people. 14 (J)Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and (K)wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15 (L)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a cast metal image of a calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands, and smashed them to pieces before your eyes! 18 (M)Then I fell down before the Lord (N)like the first time, for forty days and nights; (O)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (P)because of all your sin which you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For (Q)I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; (R)but the Lord listened to me that time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 (S)And I took your [c]sinful thing which you had made, the calf, and burned it in the fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

22 “Then at (T)Taberah, at (U)Massah, and at (V)Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking the Lord to anger. 23 And when the Lord sent you from (W)Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘(X)Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ you rebelled against the [d]command of the Lord your God; (Y)you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice. 24 (Z)You have been rebellious toward the Lord since the day I knew you.

25 (AA)So I fell down before the Lord for the forty days and nights, which I [e]did because the Lord said He would destroy you. 26 (AB)And I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand! 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin. 28 Otherwise, the people of the land from which You brought us will say, “(AC)Since the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had [f]promised them, and since He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness!” 29 Yet they are Your people, and (AD)Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your (AE)great power and Your outstretched arm.’

The Tablets Rewritten

10 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘(AF)Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first two, and come up to Me on the mountain, and (AG)make an [g]ark of wood for yourself. Then (AH)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed to pieces, and (AI)you shall put them in the ark.’ So (AJ)I made an ark of acacia wood and (AK)cut out two tablets of stone like the first two, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. Then He wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, (AL)the Ten [h]Commandments (AM)which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire (AN)on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and (AO)came down from the mountain, and I (AP)put the tablets in the ark which I had made; (AQ)and they are there, just as the Lord commanded me.”

(Now the sons of Israel set out from [i]Beeroth (AR)Bene-jaakan to Moserah. (AS)There Aaron died and there he was buried, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place. (AT)From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. (AU)At that time the Lord singled out the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord (AV)to serve Him and to bless in His name, until this day. (AW)Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)

10 (AX)I, moreover, stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord was not willing to destroy you. 11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit me, saying
  2. Deuteronomy 9:13 Lit stiff-necked
  3. Deuteronomy 9:21 Lit sin
  4. Deuteronomy 9:23 Lit mouth
  5. Deuteronomy 9:25 Lit fell down
  6. Deuteronomy 9:28 Lit spoken to
  7. Deuteronomy 10:1 I.e., sacred chest
  8. Deuteronomy 10:4 Lit Words
  9. Deuteronomy 10:6 Or the wells of the sons of Jaakan

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.

Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you.

When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:

10 And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

12 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

13 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

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

15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.

17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also.

20 And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath.

23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

24 Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.

10 At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me.

And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me.

And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him.

10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy thee.

11 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

“Don’t you remember (oh, never forget it!) how continually angry you made the Lord your God out in the wilderness, from the day you left Egypt until now? For all this time you have constantly rebelled against him.

“Don’t you remember how angry you made him at Mount Horeb? He was ready to destroy you. I was on the mountain at the time, receiving the contract which Jehovah had made with you—the stone tablets with the laws inscribed upon them. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate nothing. I didn’t even take a drink of water. 10-11 At the end of those forty days and nights the Lord gave me the contract, the tablets on which he had written the commandments he had spoken from the fire-covered mountain while the people had watched below. 12 He told me to go down quickly because the people I had led out of Egypt had defiled themselves, quickly turning away from the laws of God, and had made an idol from molten metal.

13-14 “‘Let me alone that I may destroy this evil, stubborn people!’ the Lord told me, ‘and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make a mighty nation of you, mightier and greater than they are.’

15 “I came down from the burning mountain, holding in my hands the two tablets inscribed with the laws of God. 16 There below me I could see the calf you had made in your terrible sin against the Lord your God. How quickly you turned away from him! 17 I lifted the tablets high above my head and dashed them to the ground! I smashed them before your eyes! 18 Then, for another forty days and nights I lay before the Lord, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for you had done what the Lord hated most, thus provoking him to great anger. 19 How I feared for you—for the Lord was ready to destroy you. But that time, too, he listened to me. 20 Aaron was in great danger because the Lord was so angry with him; but I prayed, and the Lord spared him. 21 I took your sin—the calf you had made—and burned it and ground it into fine dust, and threw it into the stream that cascaded out of the mountain.

22 “Again at Taberah and once again at Massah you angered the Lord, and yet again at Kibroth-hattaavah. 23 At Kadesh-barnea, when the Lord told you to enter the land he had given you, you rebelled and wouldn’t believe that he would help you; you refused to obey him. 24 Yes, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the first day I knew you. 25 That is why I fell down before him for forty days and nights when the Lord was ready to destroy you.

26 “I prayed to him, ‘O Lord God, don’t destroy your own people. They are your inheritance saved from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength. 27 Don’t notice the rebellion and stubbornness of these people, but remember instead your promises to your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Oh, please overlook the awful wickedness and sin of these people. 28 For if you destroy them, the Egyptians will say, “It is because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he promised them,” or “He destroyed them because he hated them: he brought them into the wilderness to slay them.” 29 They are your people and your inheritance that you brought from Egypt by your great power and your mighty arm.’

10 “At that time the Lord told me to cut two more stone tablets like the first ones, and to make a wooden Ark to keep them in, and to return to God on the mountain. He said he would rewrite on the tablets the same commandments that were on the tablets I had smashed, and that I should place them in the Ark. So I made an Ark of acacia wood and hewed out two stone tablets like the first two, and took the tablets up on the mountain to God. He again wrote the Ten Commandments on them and gave them to me. (They were the same commandments he had given you from the heart of the fire on the mountain as you all watched below.) Then I came down and placed the tablets in the Ark I had made, where they are to this day, just as the Lord commanded me.

“The people of Israel then journeyed from Beeroth of Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar became the next priest.

“Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land of brooks and water. It was there that Jehovah set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark containing the Ten Commandments of Jehovah, and to stand before the Lord and to do his work and to bless his name, just as is done today. (That is why the tribe of Levi does not have a portion of land reserved for it in the Promised Land, as their brother tribes do; for as the Lord told them, he himself is their inheritance.)

10 “As I said before, I stayed on the mountain before the Lord for forty days and nights the second time, just as I had the first, and the Lord again yielded to my pleas and didn’t destroy you.

11 “But he said to me, ‘Arise and lead the people to the land I promised their fathers. It is time to go in and possess it.’