Ezekiel 20:8

20:8 But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ¹  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ²  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 20:21

20:21 “‘But the children ³  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ⁴  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ⁵  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

Exodus 32:10

32:10 So now, leave me alone ⁶  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Numbers 14:11-12

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ⁷  me, and how long will they not believe ⁸  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, ⁹  and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”

Numbers 14:29

14:29 Your dead bodies ¹⁰  will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.

Numbers 16:20-21

The Judgment on the Rebels

16:20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 16:21 “Separate yourselves ¹¹  from among this community, ¹²  that I may consume them in an instant.”

Numbers 16:45

16:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ¹³ 

Numbers 26:25

26:25 These were the families of Issachar, according to those numbered of them, 64,300. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 9:8

9:8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you.

Psalms 106:23

106:23 He threatened ¹⁵  to destroy them,

but ¹⁶  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ¹⁷ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

² tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

³ tn Heb “sons.”

⁴ tn Or “carries them out.”

⁵ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

⁵ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

⁷ tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.

⁸ tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.

⁹ tc The Greek version has “death.”

¹¹ tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).

¹³ tn The verb is הִבָּדְלוּ (hibbadÿlu), the Niphal imperative of בָּדַל (badal). This is the same word that was just used when Moses reminded the Levites that they had been separated from the community to serve the Lord.

¹⁴ sn The group of people siding with Korah is meant, and not the entire community of the people of Israel. They are an assembly of rebels, their “community” consisting in their common plot.

¹⁵ tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”

¹⁷ sn The Issacharites increased from 54,400 to 64,300.

¹⁹ tn Heb “and he said.”

²⁰ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

²¹ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

²² tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”