Section 24 of 1209:7–29Deuteronomy

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King James VersionDeuteronomy 9:7–29

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.

Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Deuteronomy 9:7–29

The Calf, Broken Tablets, and Moses' Intercession

Rebellion is remembered from Egypt to this place

Forget-not is the command. Israel has been rebellious from the exodus day until now. At Horeb, while Moses spends forty days without bread or water receiving tables written by the finger of God, the people make a molten calf. The LORD calls them stiffnecked and threatens to destroy them and raise a greater nation from Moses.

Broken tablets, burned calf, and prayer for Aaron

Moses comes down with the burning mountain, sees the calf, and shatters the tables before their eyes. He falls down another forty days, eating nothing, because of their sin and the LORD's wrath. Aaron too was nearly destroyed; Moses prays for him. The calf is burned, stamped, ground to dust, and cast into the brook. Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hattaavah, and the Kadesh refusal are added to the same file: rebellious from the day Moses knew them.

Intercession appeals to redemption, promise, and reputation

Moses asks God not to destroy the people redeemed from Egypt, to remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not to look at this people's stubbornness, lest Egypt say the LORD was unable or that he brought them out to kill them from hatred. They remain the LORD's inheritance. Fasting here is grief and plea, not a technique. Moses is not a savior, and Aaron's agency is not erased by being prayed for.

How this should shape us

Tell institutional failure with named actors, broken trust, intercession, and repair. Do not let a heroic mediator hide collaborators, and do not treat hunger or prayer as leverage over God.

Teach it back

Explain Deuteronomy 9:7–29 in your own words. Include its place in Moses' speeches or the final narrative, both movements, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.

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Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties

Where do careful interpreters disagree?

Best judgment: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “The Calf, Broken Tablets, and Moses' Intercession.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.

How certain? probable

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.

Deuteronomy 9:7–29, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy

Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.

Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 9:7–29

NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes

Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.

NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 9:7–29

Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority

Supports: Covenant rhetoric, treaty comparison, Torah authority, prophetic testing, and royal subordination within the guide's stated critical model.

Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 2,' complete guide sections on treaty form, canonical formulas, Shema, love and loyalty, prophecy, textual authority, and kingship, applied to Deuteronomy 9:7–29

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch

Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.

Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism

Deuteronomy: The First Torah

Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.

Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 9:7–29

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.

Exact location: Deuteronomy 9:7–29, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 9:7–29

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12

Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 9:7–29

Open source ↗

modern critical open study guide

Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority

Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study

Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition

Supports: Covenant rhetoric, treaty comparison, Torah authority, prophetic testing, and royal subordination within the guide's stated critical model.

Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 2,' complete guide sections on treaty form, canonical formulas, Shema, love and loyalty, prophecy, textual authority, and kingship, applied to Deuteronomy 9:7–29

Open source ↗

modern scholarly handbook chapter abstract

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch

Konrad Schmid

The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch, Oxford University Press, 2020

Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.

Exact location: Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism

Open source ↗

modern jewish scholarly open composition study

Deuteronomy: The First Torah

David A. Glatt-Gilad

TheTorah.com, 2015

Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.

Exact location: Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 9:7–29

Open source ↗

Deuteronomy 9:7–29, King James Version

Rebellion is remembered from Egypt to this place

Broken tablets, burned calf, and prayer for Aaron

Intercession appeals to redemption, promise, and reputation

How this should shape us

Teach it back

Go deeper

Where do careful interpreters disagree?

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy

NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes

Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch

Deuteronomy: The First Torah