Study Desk

Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.

He let loose the east wind^(al) from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow.

He rained meat down on them like dust, birds^(am) like sand on the seashore.

He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents.

They ate till they were gorged—^(an) he had given them what they craved.

But before they turned from what they craved, even while the food was still in their mouths,^(ao)

God's anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest^(ap) among them, cutting down the young men of Israel.

In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(aq) in spite of his wonders,^(ar) they did not believe.^(as)

So he ended their days in futility^(at) and their years in terror.

Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(au) him; they eagerly turned to him again.

They remembered that God was their Rock,^(av) that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(aw)

But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(ax) lying to him with their tongues;

their hearts were not loyal^(ay) to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.

Yet he was merciful;^(az) he forgave^(ba) their iniquities^(bb) and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger^(bc) and did not stir up his full wrath.

He remembered that they were but flesh,^(bd) a passing breeze^(be) that does not return.

How often they rebelled^(bf) against him in the wilderness^(bg) and grieved him^(bh) in the wasteland!

Again and again they put God to the test;^(bi) they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(bj)

They did not remember^(bk) his power— the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(bl)

the day he displayed his signs^(bm) in Egypt, his wonders^(bn) in the region of Zoan.

He turned their river into blood;^(bo) they could not drink from their streams.

He sent swarms of flies^(bp) that devoured them, and frogs^(bq) that devastated them.

He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(br) their produce to the locust.^(bs)

He destroyed their vines with hail^(bt) and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock^(bu) to bolts of lightning.

He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(bv) his wrath, indignation and hostility— a band of destroying angels.^(bw)

He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.

He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(bx) the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(by)

But he brought his people out like a flock;^(bz) he led them like sheep through the wilderness.

He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed^(ca) their enemies.^(cb)

And so he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand^(cc) had taken.

He drove out nations^(cd) before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(ce) he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.

Like their ancestors^(cf) they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.^(cg)

They angered him^(ch) with their high places;^(ci) they aroused his jealousy with their idols.^(cj)

When God heard^(ck) them, he was furious;^(cl) he rejected Israel^(cm) completely.

He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,^(cn) the tent he had set up among humans.^(co)

He sent the ark of his might^(cp) into captivity,^(cq) his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

He gave his people over to the sword;^(cr) he was furious with his inheritance.^(cs)

Fire consumed^(ct) their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs;^(cu)

their priests were put to the sword,^(cv) and their widows could not weep.

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,^(cw) as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.

He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame.^(cx)

Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;^(cy)

but he chose the tribe of Judah,^(cz) Mount Zion,^(da) which he loved.

He built his sanctuary^(db) like the heights, like the earth that he established forever.

He chose David^(dc) his servant and took him from the sheep pens;

from tending the sheep^(dd) he brought him to be the shepherd^(de) of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;^(df) with skillful hands he led them.