¹⁸ For about forty years he put up with^[a] them in the wilderness.^(A)

³⁶ He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.^(A)

²¹ Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust, and I threw the dust into the stream that runs down the mountain.^(A)

²² “At Taberah also, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked the Lord to wrath.^{(B) 23} And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and occupy the land that I have given you,’ you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, neither trusting him nor obeying him. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord as long as he has^[a] known you.^(C)

⁷ Remember; do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place.

¹⁶ Now who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?^{(A) 17} And with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?^{(B) 18} And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?^{(C) 19} So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.^(D)

Warning against Unbelief

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

Warnings from Israel’s History

10 I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,^{(A) 2} and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food,^{(B) 4} and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.^{(C) 5} Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.^(D)

⁶ Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.^{(E) 7} Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”^{(F) 8} We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.^{(G) 9} We must not put Christ^[a] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.^{(H) 10} And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.^(I)

³⁹ Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’^{(A) 41} At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.^{(B) 42} But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

²⁵ Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?^{(A) 26} You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images,^[a] which you made for yourselves;