Deuteronomy 9:25
in Deuteronomy 9So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first,.... Which Jarchi says are the selfsame said above, Deu 9:18, but doubled or repeated, because of the order of his prayer.
This site's exposition
Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days
on Deuteronomy 9:25-27
The prayer is given in Moses' own words and it asks for nothing on Israel's account. He pleads what God has already spent, thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, and then the three names of the oath, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin is the denial of verses 4 to 6 turned into a request. Numbers 14:13-19 has him praying on the same two grounds after Kadesh, God's name and God's promise.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the L ORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the L ORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the L ORD doth drive them out from before thee.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:88%@v4
I fell down forty days - The same as were mentioned before, ver. 18, as appears by comparing this with Exodus, where this history is more fully related, and where this is said to be done twice only.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-18-anchored-25-25
And consequently he excludes all merit. And surely they who did not deserve this earthly Canaan, could not merit the kingdom of glory. To perform the word - To shew my faithfulness in accomplishing that promise which I graciously made and confirmed with my oath.
And in this appears the greatness of God's anger against all mankind that no less a person than his Son, and no less a price than his own blood, would serve to turn it away. Moses here tells them the substance of his intercession for them. He was obliged to own their stubbornness, and their wickedness, and their sin,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But on a comparison of this passage with Nu 14:5, the subject and language of this prayer show that only the second act of intercession (De 9:18) is now described in fuller detail.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָֽאֶתְנַפַּ֞ל | vaetnapal | and I prostrated myself | H5307 → | 435 times |
| לִפְנֵ֣י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יְהוָ֗ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֵ֣ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | ʾarbaim | [the] forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| הַיּ֛וֹם | haiyom | the day[s] | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | ʾarbaim | [the] forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| הַלַּ֖יְלָה | halaylah | the night[s] | H3915 → | 233 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הִתְנַפָּ֑לְתִּי | hitnapalti | I prostrated myself | H5307 → | 435 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָמַ֥ר | ʾamar | he had said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לְהַשְׁמִ֥יד | lehashmid | to destroy | H8045 → | 90 times |
| אֶתְכֶֽם׃ | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
וָֽאֶתְנַפַּ֞לand I prostrated myself
vaetnapalH5307 →435 times
לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
יְהוָ֗הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֵ֣ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
אַרְבָּעִ֥ים[the] forty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
הַיּ֛וֹםthe day[s]
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
אַרְבָּעִ֥ים[the] forty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
הַלַּ֖יְלָהthe night[s]
halaylahH3915 →233 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הִתְנַפָּ֑לְתִּיI prostrated myself
hitnapaltiH5307 →435 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָמַ֥רhe had said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לְהַשְׁמִ֥ידto destroy
lehashmidH8045 →90 times
אֶתְכֶֽם׃<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 9:18Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you…
it leads to
- Exodus 34:28
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
- Deuteronomy 9:9
When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.…
- Psalms 106:23
So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.
- 2 Samuel 12:16
David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
- Exodus 32:10–14
Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Exodus 34:28
Through
Deuteronomy 9:16And 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.
it leads to
- 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.
- Acts 7:40–41
They 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.’
- Exodus 32:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.