Moses Intercedes for Israel

13 But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. 14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

15 If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, 16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17 So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion,[fn] forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’

19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”