12 "Also I gave them [the people of Yasrael] my sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I Yahveh made them sacred.

13 "Yet the people of Yasrael rebelled against me in the desert.   They did not follow my decrees and rejected my laws -- although the man who obeys them will save his life by them -- and the utterly desecrated my sabbaths.   So I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and destroy them in the desert.

14 "But for my name's sake I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

15 "Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands --

16 "because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my sabbaths.   For their hearts were devoted to their idols.

17 "Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put and end to them in the desert.

18 "I said to their children in the desert, 'Do not follow the statutes of your fathers or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.

19 "'I am Yahveh, your Almighty One, follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

20 "'Keep my sabbaths sacred, that they may be a sign between us.   Then you will know that I am Yahveh your Almighty One.'

21 "But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws -- although the man who obeys them will save his life by them -- and they desecrated my sabbaths.   So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the desert.

22 "But I withheld my hand, and for my name's sake I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

23 "Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries,

24 "because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their father's idols."