Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moshe, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn't destroy them.
He said, *If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.*
Then said the LORD to me, Though Moshe and Shemu'el stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
Let the Kohanim, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, *Spare your people, LORD, and don't give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'*
He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.