Moses’ Entreaty

¹¹ Then ^(A)Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should ^(B)the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(C)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(D)multiply your ^[a]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(E)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[b]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (F)So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

^13 (A)But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for ^(B)You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if You slay this people as one man, ^(C)then the nations who have heard of Your fame will ^[a]say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord ^(D)could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have ^[b]declared, ¹⁸ ‘^(E)The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but ^(F)He will by no means clear the guilty, ^(G)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children ^[c]to the third and the fourth generations.’ ^19 (H)Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

²⁰ So the Lord said, “^(I)I have pardoned them according to your word;