⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: if I come among you, even for a minute, I will send destruction on you; so take off all your ornaments, so that I may see what to do with you.

²¹ I will go down now, and see if their acts are as bad as they seem from the outcry which has come to me; and if they are not, I will see.

¹² And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:

²³ O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:

¹⁹ How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction.

²⁰ Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man.

² And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not.

⁴⁵ Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.

⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, Take your vessel and put in it fire from the altar, and sweet spices, and take it quickly into the meeting of the people, and make them free from sin: for wrath has gone out from the Lord, and the disease is starting.

²¹ Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them.

³ Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way.

⁴ Hearing this bad news the people were full of grief, and no one put on his ornaments.

¹² And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.

⁶ For the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without any hand falling on her.