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For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.
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Therefore chastenest Thou them little by little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that, leaving their wickedness, they may believe in Thee, O Lord.
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For it was Thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers not only those ancient inhabitants of Thy holy land,
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whom Thou hated for doing most odious works of witchcraft and wicked sacrifices;
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but also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man's flesh and the feasts of blood,
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with their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents who killed with their own hands souls destitute of help;
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that the land, which Thou esteemed above all other, might receive a worthy colony of God's children.
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Nevertheless even those Thou spared as men and didst send wasps, forerunners of Thine host, to destroy them little by little.
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Not that Thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts or with one rough word,