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He planted a witness in Jacob, set his Word firmly in Israel, Then commanded our parents to teach it to their children
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So the next generation would know, and all the generations to come - Know the truth and tell the stories
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can trust in God, Never forget the works of God but keep his commands to the letter.
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Heaven forbid they should be like their parents, bullheaded and bad, A fickle and faithless bunch who never stayed true to God.
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The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began.
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They were cowards to God's Covenant, refused to walk by his Word.
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They forgot what he had done - marvels he'd done right before their eyes.
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He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.
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He split the Sea and they walked right through it; he piled the waters to the right and the left.
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He led them by day with a cloud, led them all the night long with a fiery torch.
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He split rocks in the wilderness, gave them all they could drink from underground springs;
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He made creeks flow out from sheer rock, and water pour out like a river.
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All they did was sin even more, rebel in the desert against the High God.
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They tried to get their own way with God, clamored for favors, for special attention.
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They whined like spoiled children, "Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?
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Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed, creeks cascaded from the rock. But how about some fresh-baked bread? How about a nice cut of meat?"
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When God heard that, he was furious - his anger flared against Jacob, he lost his temper with Israel.
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It was clear they didn't believe God, had no intention of trusting in his help.
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But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.
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He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
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They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
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He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind.
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This time it was birds that rained down - succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
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He aimed them right for the center of their camp; all round their tents there were birds.
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They ate and had their fill; he handed them everything they craved on a platter.
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But their greed knew no bounds; they stuffed their mouths with more and more.
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Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted - he cut down their brightest and best, he laid low Israel's finest young men.
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And - can you believe it? - they kept right on sinning; all those wonders and they still wouldn't believe!
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So their lives dribbled off to nothing - nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town.
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When he cut them down, they came running for help; they turned and pled for mercy.
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They gave witness that God was their rock, that High God was their redeemer,
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But they didn't mean a word of it; they lied through their teeth the whole time.
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They could not have cared less about him, wanted nothing to do with his Covenant.
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And God? Compassionate! Forgave the sin! Didn't destroy! Over and over he reined in his anger, restrained his considerable wrath.
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He knew what they were made of; he knew there wasn't much to them,
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How often in the desert they had spurned him, tried his patience in those wilderness years.
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Time and again they pushed him to the limit, provoked Israel's Holy God.
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How quickly they forgot what he'd done, forgot their day of rescue from the enemy,
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When he did miracles in Egypt, wonders on the plain of Zoan.
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He turned the River and its streams to blood - not a drop of water fit to drink.
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He sent flies, which ate them alive, and frogs, which bedeviled them.
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He turned their harvest over to caterpillars, everything they had worked for to the locusts.
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He flattened their grapevines with hail; a killing frost ruined their orchards.
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He pounded their cattle with hail, let thunderbolts loose on their herds.
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His anger flared, a wild firestorm of havoc, An advance guard of disease-carrying angels
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to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives.
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He killed all the Egyptian firstborns, lusty infants, offspring of Ham's virility.
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Then he led his people out like sheep, took his flock safely through the wilderness.
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He took good care of them; they had nothing to fear. The Sea took care of their enemies for good.
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He brought them into his holy land, this mountain he claimed for his own.
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He scattered everyone who got in their way; he staked out an inheritance for them - the tribes of Israel all had their own places.
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But they kept on giving him a hard time, rebelled against God, the High God, refused to do anything he told them.