When the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will close in around us and efface our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
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.
I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be desecrated in the eyes of the nations among whom they were: in the eyes of the nations I had made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
Between the porch and the altar let the priests weep, let the ministers of the Lord weep and say: “Spare your people, Lord! do not let your heritage become a disgrace, a byword among the nations! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” The Lord Relents.
When my enemy sees this, shame shall cover her: She who said to me, “Where is the Lord, your God?” My eyes shall see her downfall; now she will be trampled underfoot, like mud in the streets.
lest the land from which you have brought us say, “The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he promised them, and out of hatred for them, he brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.”