Numbers 14:13–19

¹³And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; ¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah art in the midst of this people; for thou Jehovah art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, ¹⁶Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. ¹⁷And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, ¹⁸Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. ¹⁹Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.