31
The wrath of God came against them, And slew the stoutest of them, And struck down the choice men of Israel.
32
In spite of this they still sinned, And did not believe in His wondrous works.
33
Therefore their days He consumed in futility, And their years in fear.
34
When He slew them, then they sought Him; And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
35
Then they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, And they lied to Him with their tongue;
37
For their heart was not steadfast with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
38
But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath;
39
For He remembered that they were but flesh, A breath that passes away and does not come again.
40
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!
41
Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43
When He worked His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
44
Turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, that they could not drink.
45
He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, And frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, And their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycamore trees with frost.
48
He also gave up their cattle to the hail, And their flocks to fiery lightning.
49
He cast on them the fierceness of His anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, By sending angels of destruction among them.
50
He made a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the plague,
51
And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt, The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
But He made His own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53
And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55
He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56
Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, And did not keep His testimonies,
57
But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58
For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59
When God heard this, He was furious, And greatly abhorred Israel,
60
So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had placed among men,
61
And delivered His strength into captivity, And His glory into the enemy's hand.