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10 Meanwhile I stayed on the mountain as I did before, forty days and forty nights, and once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.

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10 Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.(A)

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11 [a]But Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying,(A) “Why, O Lord, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning wrath; change your mind about punishing your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,(B) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’” 14 So the Lord changed his mind about the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

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Footnotes

  1. 32:11–13 Moses uses three arguments to persuade the Lord to remain faithful to the Sinai covenant even though the people have broken it: (1) they are God’s own people, redeemed with God’s great power; (2) God’s reputation will suffer if they are destroyed; (3) the covenant with Abraham still stands. The Lord’s change of mind is a testimony to Israel’s belief in the power of intercessory prayer.

11 But Moses sought the favor(A) 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?(B) 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’?(C) Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster(D) on your people. 13 Remember(E) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:(F) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars(G) in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land(H) I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented(I) and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

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