1 "Hear, O Israel; you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to the heavens,
2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'
3 Know therefore this day that he who goes over before you as a devouring fire is YHVH, your god, he will destroy them and subdue them before you; so you shall drive them out, and make them perish quickly, as YHVH has promised you.
4 "Do not say in your heart, after YHVH, your god, has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that YHVH has brought me in to possess this land'; whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that YHVH is driving them out before you.
5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations YHVH, your god, is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 "Know therefore, that YHVH, your god, is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people.
7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked YHVH, your god, to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you came out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against YHVH.
8 Even at Horeb you provoked YHVH to wrath, and YHVH was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which YHVH made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.
10 And YHVH gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of gods; and on them were all the words which YHVH had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights YHVH gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant.
12 Then YHVH said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.'
13 "Furthermore YHVH said to me, 'I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people;
14 let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'
15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against YHVH, your god, you had made yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which YHVH had commanded you.
17 So I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.
18 Then I lay prostrate before YHVH as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of YHVH, to provoke him to anger.
19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which YHVH bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But YHVH hearkened to me that time also.
20 And YHVH was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.