³ Go up^[a] to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”^(A)

⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’ ”

⁹ He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”^(A)

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?^{(A) 12} I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”^(B)

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them,^{(C) 14} and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^{(D) 15} Now if you kill this people as one, then the nations who have heard about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^{(E) 17} And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,

¹⁹ “Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”^(G)

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked;^(H)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.^(A)