Two generations in the wilderness

13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes, and they rejected my judgments, which if a person does them, he will live by them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to put an end to them.

14But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.

15Yet I myself also raised my hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

16because they rejected my judgments, and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.

17But my eye spared them from destroying them, and I did not make a complete end of them in the wilderness.

18And I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, and do not keep their judgments, and do not defile yourselves with their idols.’

19I am Yahweh your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments and do them.

20Keep my Sabbaths holy, and let them be a sign between me and you, so that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.

21But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes, and they did not keep my judgments so as to do them—the judgments that, if a man does them, he will live by them. They profaned my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to spend my anger against them in the wilderness.

22But I held back my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose eyes I had brought them out.

23Moreover, I also raised my hand to them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands.

24because they did not practice my judgments, and they rejected my statutes, and they profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after the idols of their fathers.

25Moreover, I myself gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.

26And I defiled them through their gifts, by making every firstborn pass through the fire, so that I might devastate them, so that they might know that I am Yahweh.