You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.
Parallel translations
- WEB Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
- KJV Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
- BSB Understand, 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 stiff-necked people.
- NKJV Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
- NASB “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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel must know the good land is not given for their righteousness, for they are a stiff-necked people. Their stubbornness rules out any claim of merit.
Overview
Moses bluntly calls Israel stubborn and rebellious to crush any pride. The land is pure grace given to an undeserving, hard-hearted people. This honest assessment of human sinfulness magnifies God's grace and foreshadows the gospel's diagnosis that all have sinned, needing the unmerited mercy found in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Deut 10:16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- Deut 31:27For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?
- Acts 7:51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Deut 9:13Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
- Exod 32:9Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
- 2 Chr 36:13He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- Ps 78:8and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Isa 48:3–4I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.
- Exod 33:3to a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
- Ezek 20:44You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have dealt with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, you house of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”
- Ezek 2:4The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’
- 2 Chr 30:8Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
- Zech 7:11–12But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
- Exod 34:9He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
- Deut 9:3–4Know therefore today, that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out, and make them perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you.
- Rom 5:20–21The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 9:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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