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Deuteronomy 9:17

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Deuteronomy 9:17 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
Deuteronomy 9:17 — American Standard Version

Context — Deuteronomy 9

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
14let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
15So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
16And 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.
17And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. But Jehovah hearkened unto me that time also.
20And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
← Deuteronomy 9:16Deuteronomy 9:18 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, etc.] In wrath and indignation at the sin they were guilty of: and brake them before your eyes; as an emblem of their breach of them by transgressing them.”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“I took the two tables, . . . and broke them before your eyes--not in the heat of intemperate passion, but in righteous indignation, from zeal to vindicate the unsullied honor of God, and by the suggestion of His Spirit to intimate that the covenant had been broken, and the people excluded from the divine favor.”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“I brake them before your eyes - Not by an unbridled passion, but in zeal for God's honour, and by the direction of God's spirit, to signify to tine people, that the covenant between God and them contained in those tables was broken and they were now cast out of God's favour, and could expect nothing from him but fiery indignation. Deuteronomy 9:18”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“cast them: Moses might have done this through distress and anguish of spirit, on beholding their abominable idolatry and dissolute conduct; or probably he did it emblematically, and perhaps by the direction of God; intimating thereby, that as by this act of his the tables were broken in pieces, on which the Law of God was written, so they, by their present conduct, had made a breach in the covenant, and broken the laws of their Maker and Sovereign. Deu 9:17 Deuteronomy 9:18”
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Related study paths

Read Deuteronomy 9 in contextBrowse Hebrew word studiesOpen this verse in the study reader

Sources and verification