²⁸ If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.” ²⁹ But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’