12 I’ll strike them down with a plague and disown them. Then I’ll make you into a great nation, stronger than they."
13 Moses said to the Lord, "The Egyptians will hear, for with your power you brought these people up from among them.
14 They’ll tell the inhabitants of this land. They’ve heard that you, Lord, are with this people. You, Lord, appear to them face-to-face. Your cloud stands over them. You go before them in a column of cloud by day and in a column of lightning by night.
15 If you kill these people, every last one of them, the nations who heard about you will say,
16 ‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people to the land that he solemnly promised to give them. So he slaughtered them in the desert.’
17 Now let my master’s power be as great as you declared when you said,
18 ‘The Lord is very patient and absolutely loyal, forgiving wrongs and disloyalty. Yet he doesn’t forgo all punishment, disciplining the grandchildren and great-grandchildren for their ancestors’ wrongs.’