^11 (A)Then Moses pleaded with ^[a]the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

¹⁸ And I ^(A)fell^[a] down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ^19 (B)For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you. ^(C)But the Lord listened to me at that time also. ²⁰ And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²⁶ Therefore I prayed to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and ^(A)Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin, ²⁸ lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” ²⁹ Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’

Jeremiah’s Question

A Plea for Relief from Oppressors

A ^[a]Contemplation of Asaph.

²² Then they ^(A)fell^[a] on their faces, and said, “O God, ^(B)the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the ^(C)congregation?”

^11 (A)So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the ^[a]burden of all these people on me?