⁹ “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked^(A) people. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone^(B) so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy^(C) them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”^(D)

¹¹ But Moses sought the favor^(E) of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?^{(F) 12} Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’?^(G) Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster^(H) on your people. ¹³ Remember^(I) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:^(J) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars^(K) in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land^(L) I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” ¹⁴ Then the Lord relented^(M) and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath^(A) to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’^{(B) 2} I will send an angel^(C) before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.^{(D) 3} Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey.^(E) But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked^(F) people and I might destroy^(G) you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn^(H) and no one put on any ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people.^(I) If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy^(J) you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’”

Moses and the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’^(A) but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name^(B) and you have found favor^(C) with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways^(D) so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”^(E)

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence^(F) will go with you, and I will give you rest.”^(G)

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence^(H) does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?^(I) What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”^(J)

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked,^(K) because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”^(L)

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt?^(A) How long will they refuse to believe in me,^(B) in spite of all the signs^(C) I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague^(D) and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation^(E) greater and stronger than they.”^(F)

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.^{(G) 14} And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard^(H) that you, Lord, are with these people^(I) and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face,^(J) that your cloud stays over them,^(K) and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.^{(L) 15} If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath,^(M) so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^(N)

¹⁷ “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.^(O) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’^{(P) 19} In accordance with your great love, forgive^(Q) the sin of these people,^(R) just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”^(S)

²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them,^(T) as you asked.

¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.^(A) But again the Lord listened to me.^{(B) 20} And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^(A) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^{(B) 26} I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^(C) your own inheritance^(D) that you redeemed^(E) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(F) 27} Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^(G) of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country^(H) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(I) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^{(J) 29} But they are your people,^(K) your inheritance^(L) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(M)”

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.^(A)