Numbers 14:11–20

God’s Judgment of Israel’s Rebellion

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them? ^m12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.” ⁿ

¹³But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from them. ¹⁴They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. ^oThey have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, how You, Lord, are seen face to face, how Your cloud stands over them, and how You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ^p15If You kill this people with a single blow, ^qrthe nations that have heard of Your fame ^swill declare, ¹⁶‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, ^tHe has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ^u

¹⁷“So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as You have spoken: ¹⁸The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love, ^vforgiving wrongdoing and rebellion. ^wBut He will not leave the guilty unpunished, ^xbringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation. ^y19Please pardon the wrongdoing of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your faithful love, ^zjust as You have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested.