20:21 “‘But the children 1 rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys 2 them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out 3 my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.
20:22 But I refrained from doing so, 4 and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
1 tnHeb “sons.”
2 tn Or “carries them out.”
3 tnHeb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
4 tnHeb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.