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

^13 (A)But Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your power 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 Yahweh, are in the midst of this people, for ^(B)You, O Yahweh, 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 as one man, ^(C)then the nations who have heard of Your fame will ^[a]say, ¹⁶ ‘Because Yahweh ^(D)was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ So now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have ^[b]declared, ¹⁸ ‘^(E)Yahweh 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.”

Evil Complainers

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