Deuteronomy 9:14
New International Version
Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

New Living Translation
Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’

English Standard Version
Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

Berean Standard Bible
Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”

King James Bible
Let 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.

New King James Version
Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

New American Standard Bible
Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

NASB 1995
‘Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

NASB 1977
‘Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

Legacy Standard Bible
Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’

Amplified Bible
Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

Christian Standard Bible
Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’”

American Standard Version
let 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.

Contemporary English Version
So don't try to stop me! I am going to wipe them out, and no one on earth will remember they ever lived. Then I will let your descendants become an even bigger and more powerful nation than Israel.

English Revised Version
let 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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Leave me alone! I'll destroy them and wipe their name off the earth. Then I'll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are."

Good News Translation
Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'

International Standard Version
Let me alone! I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I'll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.'

Majority Standard Bible
Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.?

NET Bible
Stand aside and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are."

New Heart English Bible
let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they."

Webster's Bible Translation
Let 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.

World English Bible
Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make you become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.

Young's Literal Translation
desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make thee become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.

Smith's Literal Translation
Desist from me and I will destroy them, and I will wipe off their name from under the heavens: and I will make thee into a nation strong and many above them.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Depart from me, so that I may crush them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and appoint you over a nation, which will be greater and stronger than this one.’

New American Bible
Let me be, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens. I will then make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.

New Revised Standard Version
Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Now let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Now let me destroy them and I shall blot out their name from under Heaven and I shall make you a stronger and more abundant people than they'.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
let 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.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And now suffer me utterly to destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and will make of thee a nation great and strong, and more numerous than this.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Golden Calf
13The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 14Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.” 15So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.…

Cross References
Exodus 32:10
Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

Numbers 14:12
I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

Psalm 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.

Genesis 18:23-32
Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? / What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? / Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” ...

Exodus 32:32-33
Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.” / The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book.

Numbers 16:21
“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”

Numbers 16:45
“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

Isaiah 48:9
For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.

Jeremiah 7:16
As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 11:14
As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.

Jeremiah 14:11
Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.

Ezekiel 20:8-9
But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt. / But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

Matthew 3:9
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

Luke 3:8
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

Romans 9:27-29
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved. / For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth thoroughly and decisively.” / It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”


Treasury of Scripture

Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.

Let me

Exodus 32:10-13
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation…

Isaiah 62:6,7
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, …

Jeremiah 14:11
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

blot

Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.

Exodus 32:32,33
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written…

Psalm 9:5
Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

and I will

Numbers 14:11,12
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? …

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Deuteronomy 9
1. Moses dissuades them from the opinion of their own righteousness
7. Moses reminds them of the golden calf














Let Me alone
This phrase is a divine imperative, indicating God's intense displeasure with the Israelites' idolatry and rebellion. The Hebrew root here is "hanach," which means to leave or permit. It suggests a moment of divine testing for Moses, where God is expressing His righteous anger but also inviting Moses to intercede. This reflects the intimate relationship between God and Moses, where God allows Moses to plead for the people, highlighting the power of intercessory prayer.

so that I may destroy them
The Hebrew word for "destroy" is "shamad," which conveys a complete and utter destruction. This is not merely a punishment but a total eradication of the sinful nation. Historically, this reflects the seriousness of covenantal breaches in the Ancient Near East, where breaking a covenant could lead to severe consequences. It underscores the holiness of God and the gravity of sin.

and blot out their name from under heaven
The phrase "blot out" comes from the Hebrew "machah," meaning to erase or obliterate. In ancient cultures, a name represented one's identity and legacy. To have one's name blotted out was to be forgotten entirely, a fate worse than death. This highlights the severity of Israel's sin and the potential loss of their covenantal identity.

Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they
Here, God offers Moses a new beginning, promising to make him the progenitor of a new, more faithful nation. The Hebrew word for "mightier" is "atzum," meaning strong or powerful, and "greater" is "gadol," meaning large or significant. This promise echoes God's covenant with Abraham, emphasizing God's faithfulness and the potential for renewal despite human failure. It also tests Moses' humility and leadership, as he chooses to intercede for the people rather than accept personal glory.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Let Me alone,
הֶ֤רֶף (he·rep̄)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 7503: Sink, relax

so that I may destroy them
וְאַשְׁמִידֵ֔ם (wə·’aš·mî·ḏêm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 8045: To be exterminated or destroyed

and blot out
וְאֶמְחֶ֣ה (wə·’em·ḥeh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular
Strong's 4229: To stroke, rub, to erase, to smooth, grease, make fat, to touch, reach to

their name
שְׁמָ֔ם (šə·mām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 8034: A name

from
מִמֶּ֙נִּי֙ (mim·men·nî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of

under
מִתַּ֖חַת (mit·ta·ḥaṯ)
Preposition-m
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of

heaven.
הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם (haš·šā·mā·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8064: Heaven, sky

Then I will make
וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ (wə·’e·‘ĕ·śeh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

you into a nation
לְגוֹי־ (lə·ḡō·w-)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

mightier
עָצ֥וּם (‘ā·ṣūm)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6099: Powerful, numerous

and greater
וָרָ֖ב (wā·rāḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7227: Much, many, great

than they.”
מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ (mim·men·nū)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 9:14 Let me alone that I may destroy (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 9:13
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