37
Their hearts were not really loyal to God; they did not keep his agreement.
38
Still God was merciful. He forgave their sins and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and did not stir up all his anger.
39
He remembered that they were only human, like a wind that blows and does not come back.
40
They turned against God so often in the desert and grieved him there.
41
Again and again they tested God and brought pain to the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not remember his power or the time he saved them from the enemy.
43
They forgot the signs he did in Egypt and his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
44
He turned their rivers to blood so no one could drink the water.
45
He sent flies that bit the people. He sent frogs that destroyed them.
46
He gave their crops to grasshoppers and what they worked for to locusts.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with sleet.
48
He killed their animals with hail and their cattle with lightning.
49
He showed them his hot anger. He sent his strong anger against them, his destroying angels.
50
He found a way to show his anger. He did not keep them from dying but let them die by a terrible disease.
51
God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt, the oldest son of each family of Ham.
52
But God led his people out like sheep and he guided them like a flock through the desert.
53
He led them to safety so they had nothing to fear, but their enemies drowned in the sea.
54
So God brought them to his holy land, to the mountain country he took with his own power.
55
He forced out the other nations, and he had his people inherit the land. He let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents.
56
But they tested God and turned against God Most High; they did not keep his rules.
57
They turned away and were disloyal just like their ancestors. They were like a crooked bow that does not shoot straight.
58
They made God angry by building places to worship gods; they made him jealous with their idols.
59
When God heard them, he became very angry and rejected the people of Israel completely.
60
He left his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tent where he lived among the people.
61
He let the Ark, his power, be captured; he let the Ark, his glory, be taken by enemies.
62
He let his people be killed; he was very angry with his children.
63
The young men died by fire, and the young women had no one to marry.
64
Their priests fell by the sword, but their widows were not allowed to cry.
65
Then the Lord got up as if he had been asleep; he awoke like a man who had been drunk with wine.
66
He struck down his enemies and disgraced them forever.
67
But God rejected the family of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68
Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69
And he built his Temple high like the mountains. Like the earth, he built it to last forever.
70
He chose David to be his servant and took him from the sheep pens.
71
He brought him from tending the sheep so he could lead the flock, the people of Jacob, his own people, the people of Israel.
72
And David led them with an innocent heart and guided them with skillful hands. A psalm of Asaph.