40. How often they refused to obey him in the desert! How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!
41. Again and again they put God to the test. They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.
42. They didn't remember his power. They forgot the day he set them free from those who had beaten them down.
43. They forgot how he had shown them his miraculous signs in Egypt. They forgot his miracles in the area of Zoan.
44. He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood. The people of Egypt couldn't drink water from their streams.
45. He sent large numbers of flies that bit them. He sent frogs that destroyed their land.
46. He gave their crops to the grasshoppers. He gave their food to the locusts.
47. He destroyed their vines with hail. He destroyed their fig trees with sleet.
48. He killed their cattle with hail. Their livestock were struck by lightning.
49. He brought great trouble on Egypt by pouring out his blazing anger. In his hot anger he sent destroying angels against them.
50. God prepared a path for his anger. He didn't spare their lives. He gave them over to the plague.
51. He killed the oldest son of each family in Egypt. He struck down the oldest son in every house in the land of Ham.
52. But he brought his people out like a flock. He led them like sheep through the desert.
53. He guided them safely, and they weren't afraid. But the Red Sea swallowed up their enemies.
54. He brought his people to the border of his holy land. He led them to the central hill country he had taken by his power.
55. He drove the nations out to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56. But they put God to the test. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn't keep his laws.
57. Like their people who lived before them, they turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn't shoot straight. They couldn't be trusted.
58. They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.
59. When God saw what the people were doing, he was very angry. He turned away from them completely.