The Message Bible MSG
New International Version NIV
14 The Egyptians will tell everyone. They've already heard that you are God, that you are on the side of this people, that you are present among them, that they see you with their own eyes in your Cloud that hovers over them, in the Pillar of Cloud that leads them by day and the Pillar of Fire at night.
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And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
15 If you kill this entire people in one stroke, all the nations that have heard what has been going on will say,
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If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,
16 'Since God couldn't get these people into the land which he had promised to give them, he slaughtered them out in the wilderness.'
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‘The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
17 "Now, please, let the power of the Master expand, enlarge itself greatly, along the lines you have laid out earlier when you said,
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“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
18 God, slow to get angry and huge in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion and sin; Still, never just whitewashing sin. But extending the fallout of parents' sins to children into the third, even the fourth generation.
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‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’
19 "Please forgive the wrongdoing of this people out of the extravagance of your loyal love just as all along, from the time they left Egypt, you have been forgiving this people."
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In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 God said, "I forgive them, honoring your words.
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The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.
21 But as I live and as the Glory of God fills the whole Earth -
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Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,
22 not a single person of those who saw my Glory, saw the miracle signs I did in Egypt and the wilderness, and who have tested me over and over and over again, turning a deaf ear to me -
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not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—
23 not one of them will set eyes on the land I so solemnly promised to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with such repeated contempt will see it.
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not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
24 "But my servant Caleb - this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately. I'll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it.
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But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.