22
So while chastening us you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more, so that, when we judge, we may meditate upon your goodness, and when we are judged, we may expect mercy.
20
For if you punished with such great care and indulgence the enemies of your servants and those deserving of death, granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,
21
with what strictness you have judged your children, to whose ancestors you gave oaths and covenants full of good promises!
22
So while chastening us you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more, so that, when we judge, we may meditate upon your goodness, and when we are judged, we may expect mercy.
23
Therefore those who lived unrighteously, in a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations.
24
For they went far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals that even their enemies despised; they were deceived like foolish infants.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.