6
these parents who murder helpless lives, you willed to destroy by the hands of our ancestors,
7
so that the land most precious of all to you might receive a worthy colony of the servants of God.
8
But even these you spared, since they were but mortals, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army to destroy them little by little,
9
though you were not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild animals or your stern word.
10
But judging them little by little you gave them an opportunity to repent, though you were not unaware that their origin was evil and their wickedness inborn, and that their way of thinking would never change.
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.