and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live.

The LORD solemnly promised your ancestors to give you the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. When he brings you into that rich and fertile land, you must celebrate this festival in the first month of every year.

But I have promised you this rich and fertile land as your possession, and I will give it to you. I am the LORD your God, and I have set you apart from the other nations.

They told Moses, "We explored the land and found it to be rich and fertile; and here is some of its fruit.

If the LORD is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land.

Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?

(SEE 5:4)

Then I would keep the promise I made to their ancestors that I would give them the rich and fertile land which they now have." I said, "Yes, LORD."

Moses replied, "If you do not go with us, don't make us leave this place.

The LORD said to Moses, "I will do just as you have asked, because I know you very well and I am pleased with you."

Now, don't try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation."

So the LORD changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!"

I would have destroyed them completely, so that no one would remember them.

But I could not let their enemies boast that they had defeated my people, when it was I myself who had crushed them.'

I, the LORD God of Israel, promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me.

If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom,

On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant or build up any nation or kingdom,

If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

I may promise life to someone good, but if he starts thinking that his past goodness is enough and begins to sin, I will not remember any of the good he did. He will die because of his sins.

for example, if he returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole---if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live.

Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, "In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!"

God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.

I know how stubborn these people are.

He said, "Lord, if you really are pleased with me, I ask you to go with us. These people are stubborn, but forgive our evil and our sin, and accept us as your own people."

You can be sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.

Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD angry---angry enough to destroy you.

Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain.

"Then the LORD said to me, 'Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.'

They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

"How stubborn you are!" Stephen went on to say. "How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit!

Pay attention to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for I have sent him, and he will not pardon such rebellion.

Now, don't try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation."

"Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."

"Move back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!" The two of them bowed down with their faces to the ground,

Listen now, and warn the descendants of Jacob," says the Sovereign LORD Almighty.

"On the day when I punish the people of Israel for their sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel. The corners of every altar will be broken off and will fall to the ground.