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5 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up into your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.'"
In Exodus 3:8, these were people in idolatry that still maintained something of good and truth. (Arcana Coelestia 6860)