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."

But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God and said, " LORD, why should you be so angry with your people, whom you rescued from Egypt with great might and power?

Please forgive their sin; but if you won't, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people."

"The LORD also said to me, 'I know how stubborn these people are.

Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'

I was afraid of the LORD's fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again the LORD listened to me.

"So I lay face downward in the LORD's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you.

"I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time. The LORD listened to me once more and agreed not to destroy you.

But even in the desert they defied me. They broke my laws and rejected my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They completely profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to destroy them.

But I did not, since that would have brought dishonor to my name among the nations which had seen me lead Israel out of Egypt.

(SEE 105:5)

Then he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

Then he said to Korah and his followers, "Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar.

"Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgment to the nations.

You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.

If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you.

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

People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look around! See for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you can, the LORD will forgive Jerusalem.

They don't guard the places where the walls have crumbled, nor do they rebuild the walls, and so Israel cannot be defended when war comes on the day of the LORD.

I looked for someone who could build a wall, who could stand in the places where the walls have crumbled and defend the land when my anger is about to destroy it, but I could find no one.

So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.