9 And the Lord said to Moses, o“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a 2stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, plet Me alone, that qMy wrath may burn hot against them and I may 3consume them. And rI will make of you a great nation.”

11 sThen Moses pleaded with 4the 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? 12 tWhy should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and urelent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You vswore by Your own self, and said to them, w‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 So the Lord xrelented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.