1 Listen, Israel; this day thou art to cross the Jordan, and beyond it there are great nations to be dispossessed, more than a match for thee, with huge cities walled as high as heaven; 2 a strong folk and tall, the breed of Enac, that thou hast seen or heard tell of; none can withstand them. 3 And this day will prove that it is the Lord thy God that passes on before thee, like fire that swallows up and consumes all before it, beating them down and making an end of them, scattering them before thee all in a moment, in fulfilment of the promise he gave thee. 4 But do not flatter thyself, when the Lord thy God destroys them thus at thy onslaught, do not flatter thyself it was for any merit of thine he gave thee possession of this land thou hast invaded, when in truth it was the wickedness of those other nations that brought them to ruin. 5 No, if thou dost invade and conquer their lands, it is for no merit of thine, no right dispositions of thine; they are to perish at thy onslaught in punishment of their own ill-deeds, and because the Lord must needs fulfil the promise which he made on oath to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Be well assured thou hadst no claim to the possession of this fair land the Lord thy God is bestowing on thee, a stiff-necked nation as thou art.
1 Audi, Israël: tu transgredieris hodie Jordanem, ut possideas nationes maximas et fortiores te, civitates ingentes, et ad cælum usque muratas, 2 populum magnum atque sublimem, filios Enacim, quos ipse vidisti et audisti, quibus nullus potest ex adverso resistere. 3 Scies ergo hodie quod Dominus Deus tuus ipse transibit ante te, ignis devorans atque consumens, qui conterat eos, et deleat atque disperdat ante faciem tuam velociter, sicut locutus est tibi: 4 ne dicas in corde tuo, cum deleverit eos Dominus Deus tuus in conspectu tuo: Propter justitiam meam introduxit me Dominus ut terram hanc possiderem, cum propter impietates suas istæ deletæ sint nationes. 5 Neque enim propter justitias tuas, et æquitatem cordis tui ingredieris, ut possideas terras earum: sed quia illæ egerunt impie, introëunte te deletæ sunt: et ut compleret verbum suum Dominus, quod sub juramento pollicitus est patribus tuis, Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob. 6 Scito ergo quod non propter justitias tuas Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi terram hanc optimam in possessionem, cum durissimæ cervicis sis populus.
7 What, has memory failed thee? Remember what provocation thou didst give the Lord thy God, out in the desert. From the very day of thy leaving Egypt, all the way to the place where thou standest, there has been nothing but rebellion against the Lord. 8 At Horeb itself thou didst challenge him, and in his anger he would have destroyed thee. 9 I went up to the mountain where I was to receive the two stone tablets that recorded the covenant the Lord was making with you and on the mountain, without food and drink, I spent forty days and forty nights. 10 There I received two stone tablets, inscribed by his own divine fingers with all those commandments he gave you on the mountain, from the heart of the flames, when the people met there in full assembly. 11 Forty days and as many nights had passed when he gave me the two stone tablets that recorded the covenant, and said, 12 Bestir thyself, go back down the mountain with all speed; they have been quick to leave the paths thou didst shew them, this people thou didst bring out of Egypt with thee, and have made themselves a molten image. 13 This, too, the Lord said to me, Here is a race that will not bear the yoke; 14 let me have my way, and efface their very memory on earth, and thou thyself shalt be at the head of a greater people, a stronger people than this.
7 Memento, et ne obliviscaris, quomodo ad iracundiam provocaveris Dominum Deum tuum in solitudine. Ex eo die, quo egressus es ex Ægypto usque ad locum istum, semper adversum Dominum contendisti. 8 Nam et in Horeb provocasti eum, et iratus delere te voluit, 9 quando ascendi in montem, ut acciperem tabulas lapideas, tabulas pacti quod pepigit vobiscum Dominus: et perseveravi in monte quadraginta diebus ac noctibus, panem non comedens, et aquam non bibens. 10 Deditque mihi Dominus duas tabulas lapideas scriptas digito Dei, et continentes omnia verba quæ vobis locutus est in monte de medio ignis, quando concio populi congregata est. 11 Cumque transissent quadraginta dies, et totidem noctes, dedit mihi Dominus duas tabulas lapideas, tabulas fœderis, 12 dixitque mihi: Surge, et descende hinc cito: quia populus tuus, quem eduxisti de Ægypto, deseruerunt velociter viam, quam demonstrasti eis, feceruntque sibi conflatile. 13 Rursumque ait Dominus ad me: Cerno quod populus iste duræ cervicis sit: 14 dimitte me ut conteram eum, et deleam nomen ejus de sub cælo, et constituam te super gentem, quæ hac major et fortior sit.
15 So I went down the mountain, that was all aflame, with one stone tablet in either hand; 16 and when I saw what sin you had committed against the Lord your God, forsaking all at once the path he had shewn you, and making yourselves a molten calf, 17 I flung down the two tablets from my hands and broke them, there in your presence. 18 And now for another forty days and forty nights I lay at the Lord’s feet, without food or drink, in amends for the sin you had committed against the Lord, your defiance of his displeasure; 19 so great was my fear of that vengeful anger of his, roused now and ready to destroy you. And once again the Lord listened to me. 20 Aaron, too, he would have destroyed in his grievous anger, and for him, too, I must offer entreaty. 21 As for this abomination of yours, this calf you had made, I took it up and gave it to the flames; then I cut it in pieces and ground it all to dust, which I threw into the stream that flows down the mountain side.[1]
15 Cumque de monte ardente descenderem, et duas tabulas fœderis utraque tenerem manu, 16 vidissemque vos peccasse Domino Deo vestro, et fecisse vobis vitulum conflatilem, ac deseruisse velociter viam ejus, quam vobis ostenderat: 17 projeci tabulas de manibus meis, confregique eas in conspectu vestro. 18 Et procidi ante Dominum sicut prius, quadraginta diebus et noctibus panem non comedens, et aquam non bibens, propter omnia peccata vestra quæ gessistis contra Dominum, et eum ad iracundiam provocastis: 19 timui enim indignationem et iram illius, qua adversum vos concitatus, delere vos voluit. Et exaudivit me Dominus etiam hac vice. 20 Adversum Aaron quoque vehementer iratus, voluit eum conterere, et pro illo similiter deprecatus sum. 21 Peccatum autem vestrum quod feceratis, id est, vitulum, arripiens, igne combussi, et in frusta comminuens, omninoque in pulverem redigens, projeci in torrentem, qui de monte descendit.
22 At the Place of Burning, too, and at the Place of Challenge, and at the Graves of Greed, you roused the Lord’s anger; 23 and when he sent you out to battle from Cades-Barne, bidding you go and take possession of the land he had given you for your home, you defied the will of the Lord your God, and refused to trust him or listen to his commands; 24 always you have been rebels since the day when I first knew you. 25 And I spent forty days and forty nights lying at the Lord’s feet, praying him not to carry out his threat of destroying you. 26 Lord God, I said in my prayer, do not make an end of this people of thine, this dear possession thou didst claim for thyself so signally, when thou didst rescue them from Egypt in the Egyptians’ despite. 27 Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; turn away thy eyes from the sin they have committed, this stubborn, rebellious people of thine. 28 Wilt thou let it be said in the land from which we escaped, The Lord was their enemy; he promised them a home, but had no power to win it for them, and only led them out so as to make an end of them in the desert? 29 They are thy people, thy dear possession, rescued by thee so signally, with such display of thy power!
22 In incendio quoque, et in tentatione, et in Sepulchris concupiscentiæ provocastis Dominum: 23 et quando misit vos de Cadesbarne, dicens: Ascendite, et possidete terram, quam dedi vobis, et contempsistis imperium Domini Dei vestri, et non credidistis ei, neque vocem ejus audire voluistis: 24 sed semper fuistis rebelles a die qua nosse vos cœpi. 25 Et jacui coram Domino quadraginta diebus ac noctibus, quibus eum suppliciter deprecabar, ne deleret vos ut fuerat comminatus: 26 et orans dixi: Domine Deus, ne disperdas populum tuum, et hæreditatem tuam, quam redemisti in magnitudine tua, quos eduxisti de Ægypto in manu forti. 27 Recordare servorum tuorum Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob: ne aspicias duritiam populi hujus, et impietatem atque peccatum: 28 ne forte dicant habitatores terræ, de qua eduxisti nos: Non poterat Dominus introducere eos in terram, quam pollicitus est eis, et oderat illos: idcirco eduxit, ut interficeret eos in solitudine: 29 qui sunt populus tuus et hæreditas tua, quos eduxisti in fortitudine tua magna, et in brachio tuo extento.