Moses’ Plea

¹¹ Then ^(A)Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “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 talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of 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 relented of 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 this people up from their midst, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are in the midst of this people, because ^(B)You, 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 put this people to death ^[a]all at once, ^(C)then the nations who have heard of Your fame will ^[b]say, ¹⁶ ‘Since the Lord ^(D)could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ So now, please, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, saying, ¹⁸ ‘^(E)The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and violation of His Law; but ^(F)He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, ^(G)inflicting the ^[c]punishment of the fathers on the children ^[d]to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Please ^(H)forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, 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 forgiven them in accordance with your word;