31. the anger of God rose against them,and he killed their strongest men.He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.
32. But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
33. So he ended their lives in failure,their years in terror.
34. When God began killing them,they finally sought him.They repented and took God seriously.
35. Then they remembered that God was their rock,that God Most High was their redeemer.
36. But all they gave him was lip service;they lied to him with their tongues.
37. Their hearts were not loyal to him.They did not keep his covenant.
38. Yet he was merciful and forgave their sinsand did not destroy them all.Many times he held back his angerand did not unleash his fury!
39. For he remembered that they were merely mortal,gone like a breath of wind that never returns.
40. Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wildernessand grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
41. Again and again they tested God’s patienceand provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42. They did not remember his powerand how he rescued them from their enemies.
43. They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,his wonders on the plain of Zoan.