For I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; but the Lord listened to me that time as well.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also.
- KJV For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.
- BSB For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.
- NKJV For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also.
- NLT I feared that the furious anger of the Lord, which turned him against you, would drive him to destroy you. But again he listened to me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses confesses his dread of God's righteous anger that threatened to destroy Israel, yet the Lord listened to his prayer. It displays both divine justice and mercy.
Overview
God's hot displeasure was the just response to covenant-breaking idolatry, and Moses rightly feared it. Yet the Lord heard Moses' plea and relented from destruction, magnifying His mercy toward an undeserving people. This pattern of just wrath answered by a mediator's prayer anticipates the cross, where wrath and mercy meet in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Deut 10:10I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh would not destroy you.
- Exod 32:14Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
- Jas 5:16–17Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
- Ps 99:6Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
- Exod 33:17Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
- Exod 32:10–11Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
- Amos 7:2–3When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
- Neh 1:2–7Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
- Luke 12:4–5“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
- Ps 106:23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
- Deut 9:8Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you.
- Amos 7:5–6Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 9:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.