Study Desk

"You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will turn over to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

"And the LORD your God will drive away these nations from you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.

"The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

"And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become designated for destruction, like it; you are to utterly detest it, and you are to utterly loathe it, for it is something designated for destruction.

"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills;

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

He who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who brought water for you out of the rock of flint.

"In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test, to do good for you in the end.

"But you are to remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

"Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

"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; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

"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 quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast metal image for themselves.'

"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.

"Then I fell down before the LORD like the first time, for forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, 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.

"For I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the LORD was angry with you so as to destroy you; but the LORD listened to me that time as well.

"The LORD was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

"So I fell down before the LORD for the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD said He would destroy you.

"At that time the LORD said to me, 'Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first two, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself.

"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.

and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?