Ezekiel 20:21-23

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

²¹ But the children rebelled against me; they did not follow my statutes, and were not careful to observe my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live; they profaned my sabbaths.

Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. ²² But I withheld my hand, and acted for the sake of my name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. ²³ Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,