Exode 32:12

12 Pourquoi les Égyptiens diraient-ils: Il les a fait sortir pour leur malheur, pour les tuer dans les montagnes, et pour les consumer de dessus la terre? Reviens de l'ardeur de ta colère, et te repens du mal que tu veux faire à ton peuple.

Exode 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:12

Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say
Those that remained, as the Targum of Jonathan, who were not drowned in the Red sea: a good man will be concerned for the honour and glory of God among the enemies of his people, that their mouths may not be opened to blaspheme the Lord and speak ill of his ways, see ( Joshua 7:9 ) and this is sometimes an argument with God himself, not to do that to his people they deserve, lest it should give occasion to the enemy to speak reproachfully, insult, and triumph, ( Deuteronomy 32:26 Deuteronomy 32:27 )

for mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains,
and to consume them from the face of the earth;
that he brought them out of Egypt, not with a good but ill design; not to bring them into the land of Canaan, as they promised themselves, but to destroy them in the mountains; not to erect them into a great kingdom and nation, which should make a considerable figure in the world, but to cut them off from being a people at all: the mountains where they now were, were Sinai and Horeb, and there might be others thereabout, among which they were encamped: the Targum of Jonathan is,

``among the mountains of Tabor, and Hermon, and Sirion, and Sinai:''

turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy
people;
not that there is any turning or shadow of turning with God, or any change of his mind, or any such passions and affections in him as here expressed; but this is said after the manner of men concerning him, when he alters the course of his dealings with men according to his unalterable will, and does not do the evil threatened by him, and which the sins of men deserve.

Exode 32:12 In-Context

10 Or maintenant, laisse-moi faire; que ma colère s'enflamme contre eux, et que je les consume; mais je ferai de toi une grande nation.
11 Alors Moïse supplia l'Éternel son Dieu, et dit: Pourquoi, ô Éternel! ta colère s'enflammerait-elle contre ton peuple, que tu as fait sortir du pays d'Égypte avec une grande puissance et par une main forte?
12 Pourquoi les Égyptiens diraient-ils: Il les a fait sortir pour leur malheur, pour les tuer dans les montagnes, et pour les consumer de dessus la terre? Reviens de l'ardeur de ta colère, et te repens du mal que tu veux faire à ton peuple.
13 Souviens-toi d'Abraham, d'Isaac et d'Israël, tes serviteurs, auxquels tu as juré par toi-même, en leur disant: Je multiplierai votre postérité comme les étoiles des cieux, et je donnerai à votre postérité tout ce pays dont j'ai parlé, et ils le posséderont à jamais.
14 Et l'Éternel se repentit du mal qu'il avait dit qu'il ferait à son peuple.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.