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Deuteronomy 9:16

in Deuteronomy 9

And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God; ye had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 9

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

So I turned and came down from the mount

on Deuteronomy 9:15-17

Moses comes down with the mountain still burning behind him and a table of the covenant in each hand. Exodus 32:19 says he saw the calf and the dancing and that his anger waxed hot, where Deuteronomy leaves both the dancing and the anger out and says only that he brake them before your eyes. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the breaking as a formal act declaring the covenant broken, and Henry calls it a bill of divorce served on the nation.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And I looked,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

God was very angry with them for their sin. Let them not think that God overlooked what they did amiss, and gave them Canaan for what was good among them.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

This is also meant to be part of the chastisements. He is saying: “your sin was greater than could be borne, 138 See Genesis:13. to the point that when I saw you being merry before the calf I could not restrain [my anger] and I broke the Tablets.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Deuteronomy 9:17:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וָאֵ֗רֶאand I saw

    vaere'H7200 →1300 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֤הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • חֲטָאתֶם֙you had sinned

    chatatemH2398 →238 times

  • לַיהוָ֣הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔םGod your

    ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times

  • עֲשִׂיתֶ֣םyou had made

    ʾasitemH6213 →2628 times

  • לָכֶ֔םfor <the> yourselves

    lakhem

  • עֵ֖גֶלa calf of

    ʾegelH5695 →

  • מַסֵּכָ֑הmolten metal

    masekhahH4541 →28 times

  • סַרְתֶּ֣םyou had turned aside

    sartemH5493 →299 times

  • מַהֵ֔רquickly

    maherH4118 →14 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַדֶּ֕רֶךְthe way

    haderekhH1870 →707 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • צִוָּ֥הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680 →494 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶתְכֶֽם׃<obj.> you

    ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 32:4He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”7 worksExodus 32:19As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.4 worksDeuteronomy 9:25So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.4 worksExodus 32:8How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”4 worksActs 7:40–41They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’2 worksDeuteronomy 9:12And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Judges 2:17Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.2 works

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 32:19

    As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 9:16–17

      And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

    • Mark 10:14

      But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

    • Deuteronomy 27:26

      ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

    • Lamentations 5:15

      Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

    • 2 Samuel 6:14

      And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 9 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 9 →