Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
- KJV Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
- NKJV Why 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 relent from this harm to Your people.
- NASB Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people.
- NLT Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people!
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 argues that destroying Israel would dishonor God's name among the Egyptians. He asks God to turn from wrath for the sake of His reputation.
Overview
Moses' concern is supremely for God's glory: that the nations not misread His justice as malice. He boldly asks God to 'repent' or relent from the threatened judgment. The language of God 'repenting' describes a real change in His dealings in response to intercession, while His unchanging character and purposes remain constant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Num 14:13–16But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.
- Deut 9:28Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
- Josh 7:9When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”
- Exod 32:14So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.
- Deut 13:17Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Deut 32:26–27I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
- Ezek 20:9But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
- Ps 78:38And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
- Ps 106:45And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
- Amos 7:6So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
- Ps 85:3You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger.
- Ezek 20:14But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
- Gen 6:6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
- Ps 74:18Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
- Amos 7:3So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.
- Jonah 3:9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
- Deut 32:36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
- Zech 8:14For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Hosts,
- Ps 79:9–10Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.
- Ezra 10:14Let our leaders represent the whole assembly. Then let everyone in our towns who has married a foreign woman come at an appointed time, together with the elders and judges of each town, until the fierce anger of our God in this matter is turned away from us.”
- Josh 7:26And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
- Ezek 20:22But I withheld My hand and acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 32:12 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
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