40
How often they
1rebelled against him in the wilderness and
2grieved him in
3the desert!
41
They
4tested God again and again and provoked
5the Holy One of Israel.
42
They
6did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43
7when he performed his
8signs in Egypt and his
9marvels in
10the fields of Zoan.
44
He
11turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45
He sent among them swarms of
12flies, which devoured them, and
13frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He gave their crops to
14the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with
15hail and their sycamores with frost.
48
He gave over their
16cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49
He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of
17destroying angels.
50
He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
51
He struck down every
18firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of
19Ham.
52
Then he led out his people
20like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53
21He led them in safety, so that they
22were not afraid, but
23the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And he brought them to his
24holy land,
25to the mountain which his right hand had
26won.
55
He
27drove out nations before them; he
28apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56
Yet they
29tested and
30rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
57
but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like
31a deceitful bow.
58
For they
32provoked him to anger with their
33high places; they
34moved him to jealousy with their
35idols.
59
When God heard, he was full of
36wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
60
He
37forsook his dwelling at
38Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61
and delivered his
39power to captivity, his
40glory to the hand of the foe.
62
He
41gave his people over to the sword and
42vented his wrath on his heritage.
63
43Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no
44marriage song.
64
Their
45priests fell by the sword, and their
46widows made no lamentation.
65
Then the Lord
47awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66
And he
48put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
67
He rejected the tent of
49Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68
but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he
50loves.
69
He
51built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70
He
52chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
71
from
53following the nursing ewes he brought him to
54shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his
55inheritance.
72
With
56upright heart he shepherded them and
57guided them with his skillful hand.