Deuteronomy 9:8

8 At Horeb you aroused the LORD’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you.

Deuteronomy 9:8 in Other Translations

KJV
8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.
ESV
8 Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
NLT
8 Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD so angry he was ready to destroy you.
MSG
8 You made God angry at Horeb, made him so angry that he wanted to destroy you.
CSB
8 You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and He was angry enough with you to destroy you.

Deuteronomy 9:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:8

Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath
The word "also" shows that they had provoked him before, but this instance is given as a very notorious one; here they made the golden calf and worshipped it, while Moses was on the mount with God, receiving instructions from him for their good. Near to this place a rock had been smitten for them, from whence flowed water for the refreshment of them and their cattle; here the Lord appeared in the glory of his majesty to them, and from hence, for it is the same mount with Sinai, the law was given to them in such an awful and terrible manner; and yet none of these things were sufficient to restrain them from provoking the Lord to wrath by their sins:

so that the Lord was angry with you, to have destroyed you;
so very angry with them, and so justly, that he proposed to Moses to destroy them, and make of him a great nation in their stead, ( Exodus 32:10 ) .

Deuteronomy 9:8 In-Context

6 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.
7 Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
8 At Horeb you aroused the LORD’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you.
9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.
10 The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Numbers 16:46; 1 Samuel 28:18; Job 20:28; Psalms 2:12; Psalms 7:11; Psalms 69:24; Psalms 110:5; Isaiah 9:19; Ezekiel 20:13
  • 2. Exodus 32:7-10; Ezra 9:14; Psalms 106:19
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.