The Israelites were stubborn
1Moses said: ‘Israelites, you must listen. Today you are going through the Jordan River to take the land from people who are bigger and stronger than you. In that land there are towns and cities that have strong and high walls, walls that are as high as the heaven. 2There are big and strong people there, the Anakites. You know about them and you have heard people say: “Who can go to war_against these Anakite people? No one can.”
3But today you must know that the Lord your God will go through the river before you, and He is like a burning fire. He will defeat the Anakite people and He will humiliate them in front of you. He will chase them away and they will disappear quickly. This is what the Lord has promised you. 4The Lord your God will chase them away to give their land to you, and He will bring you into the land so that you can take it for yourselves, but you must never think that God did this because you were good and were living in the right way. No, these people have done wrong and that is why the Lord is going to chase them away and give their land to you. 5You are going to take this land for yourselves, but it is not because you have done right or because you were honest. No, the Lord your God is chasing these people away to give their land to you because these people have done wrong and the Lord wants to do what He promised your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6You must know that the Lord is giving this good land to you so that you can take it for yourselves, but it is not because you have done right. No, you are stubborn people.’
The Israelites made an idol
7‘Do not forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You have been rebellious_against the Lord from the first day when you came out of the land of Egypt until now. 8At Mount Horeb you made the Lord angry and He was so angry that He wanted to kill all of you. 9I went up the mountain to get the flat stones on which the Lord wrote the covenant that He made with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and I did not eat or drink anything. 10The Lord gave me the 2 flat stones. God wrote everything on the stones with his finger. He wrote everything that the Lord told you on the mountain from the fire when the congregation came together. 11After 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord gave me the 2 flat stones, on which He had written the covenant. 12Then the Lord said to me: “You must go down the mountain immediately because the people whom you have brought from Egypt have done a very bad thing. They have turned away from what I told them in my commandments. They have made an image for themselves.”
13The Lord also said to me: “I have looked at these people and I have seen that they are stubborn. You must know this. 14Do not try to stop Me. I want to destroy them all so that no one on earth will remember their names. Then I will make your descendants a nation that is stronger and more than they are.”
15I went down the mountain and back to you. The mountain was burning and I had the 2 flat stones in my hands. They were the stones on which God had written the covenant. 16I looked at you and saw what bad thing you had done. You had sinned_against the Lord your God. You had made an image of a bull-calf and you had stopped living like the Lord told you to. 17Then I took the 2 flat stones and threw them out of my hands. You saw how they broke. 18I fell down onto my face in front of the Lord, as I had before, and I lay there for 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat or drink anything. I did that because of your sin. You did something very wrong and the Lord became very angry. 19I was afraid that the Lord was so angry with you that He would destroy and kill you all. But again the Lord did what I asked Him. 20The Lord was so angry with Aaron that He wanted to kill him, but I prayed for him. 21You did a big sin when you made that image of the bull-calf, but then I took the image and burnt and beat it to pieces. I made it into a fine powder and threw it into the water stream that was coming down from the mountain.
22You also made the Lord angry when you were at Taberah, Massah and Kibroth-Hattaavah. 23You rebelled_against the Lord when He sent you from the town of Kadesh-Barnea and when He told you: “Go and take the land that I give you.”
But you did not believe that the Lord would do what He had promised and you did not do what He told you. 24You have rebelled_against the Lord from the first day that I knew you. 25I went back to the Lord and I lay in front of Him again for 40 days and 40 nights because He said that He wanted to kill you all. 26I prayed to the Lord and said to Him: “Lord, my God, please do not kill your people. They are your nation. You have paid to free them from Egypt and You made them your people with your great power. You are strong. 27Please remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and look away from these stubborn people. Please don't look at the things they have done wrong and don't look at their sin. 28If you cause them to die, then the people of the land of Egypt where You saved them will say: “‘The Lord promised that He would bring them into a new land, but He could not do it. He led them out of there and made them all die in the desert because He hated them.”’ ”
29But these people are your people. They belong to You and You have saved them and brought them here with your great power.’
