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.

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 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them^(A) at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord^(B) appeared to the entire assembly. ²⁰ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves^(C) from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”^(D)

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown^(E) and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things,^(F) will you be angry with the entire assembly^(G) when only one man sins?”^(H)

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”