The Canaanites and all the other people in this country will hear about this and will surround and kill us all! Then what will you do for your own great name?”
Don’t let the people of Egypt say, ‘The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose. He planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry, and don’t destroy your people.
But I acted for the sake of my name so it would not be dishonored in full view of the nations where the Israelites lived. I made myself known to the Israelites with a promise to bring them out of Egypt while the nations were watching.
The priests, the Lord’s servants, should cry between the altar and the entrance to the Temple. They should say, “Lord, have mercy on your people. Don’t let them be put to shame; don’t let other nations make fun of them. Don’t let people in other nations ask, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
Then my enemies will see this, and they will be ashamed, those who said to me, ‘Where is the Lord your God?’ I will look down on them. They will get walked on, like mud in the street.”
Otherwise, Egypt will say, ‘It was because the Lord was not able to take his people into the land he promised them, and it was because he hated them that he took them into the desert to kill them.’