14 But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
15 Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands—
16 because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols.
17 Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the wilderness.
18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.
19 I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
20 Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”