Chapter 9
1
Hear, Israel: you are crossing the Jordan today to go in and possess nations great and mighty beyond you, cities great and fortified up to the heavens.
2
A great and tall people, the sons of Anakim, whom you know and have heard about—who can stand before the sons of Anak?
3
You will know today that the LORD your God—he is the one going before you, a devouring fire—he will destroy them and subdue them before you, and you will dispossess them and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD spoke to you.
4
Do not say in your heart, when the LORD your God drives them out before you, "Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me to possess this land, and because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD is dispossessing them before you."
5
It is not in your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you come to possess their land, but in the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God dispossesses them from before you, and in order to fulfill the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6
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 stiff-necked people.