^19 (A)You, in Your great compassion,
Did not abandon them in the wilderness;
^(B)The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
²⁰ Instead, ^(C)You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
²¹ Indeed, for ^(D)forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.
²² You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a ^[a]boundary.
^(E)They took possession of the land of Sihon ^[b]the king of Heshbon
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

²⁴ He ^(A)rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them ^[a](B)food from heaven.
²⁵ Man ate the bread of ^[b]angels;
He sent them ^[c]food ^[d](C)in abundance.
²⁶ He ^(D)made the east wind blow in the sky
And by His ^[e]power He directed the south wind.
²⁷ When He rained meat upon them like the dust,
Even ^(E)winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
²⁸ He let them fall in the midst of ^[f]their camp,
All around their dwellings.
²⁹ So they ^(F)ate and were well filled,
And He ^[g]satisfied their longing.
^30 [h]Yet before they had abandoned their longing,
^(G)While their food was in their mouths,
³¹ The ^(H)anger of God rose against them
And killed ^[i]some of their ^(I)strongest ones,
And ^[j]subdued the choice men of Israel.
³² In spite of all this they ^(J)still sinned
And ^(K)did not believe in His wonderful works.
³³ So He brought ^(L)their days to an end in futility,
And their years to an end in sudden terror.

³⁴ When He killed them, then they ^(M)sought Him,
And they returned and searched ^(N)diligently for God;
³⁵ And they remembered that God was their ^(O)rock,
And the Most High God their ^(P)Redeemer.
³⁶ But they ^(Q)flattered Him with their mouth
And ^(R)lied to Him with their tongue.
³⁷ For their heart was not ^(S)steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful with His covenant.
³⁸ But He, being ^(T)compassionate, ^[k](U)forgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them;
And often He ^[l](V)restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.
³⁹ So ^(W)He remembered that they were only ^(X)flesh,
A ^[m](Y)wind that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they ^(Z)rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And ^(AA)grieved Him in the ^(AB)desert!
⁴¹ Again and again they ^[n](AC)tempted God,
And pained the ^(AD)Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They ^(AE)did not remember ^(AF)His ^[o]power,
The day when He ^(AG)redeemed them from the enemy,
⁴³ When He performed His ^(AH)signs in Egypt
And His ^(AI)marvels in the field of Zoan,
⁴⁴ And ^(AJ)turned their rivers to blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of ^(AK)flies among them that devoured them,
And ^(AL)frogs that destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He also gave their crops to the ^(AM)grasshopper
And the product of their labor to the ^(AN)locust.
⁴⁷ He ^[p]destroyed their vines with ^(AO)hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
⁴⁸ He also turned their ^(AP)cattle over to the hailstones,
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He ^(AQ)sent His burning anger upon them,
Fury and indignation and trouble,
A band of ^[q]destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He leveled a path for His anger;
He did not spare their souls from death,
But ^(AR)turned their lives over to the plague,
⁵¹ And ^(AS)struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
The ^(AT)first and best of their vigor in the tents of ^(AU)Ham.
⁵² But He ^(AV)led His own people out like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness ^(AW)like a flock;
⁵³ He led them ^(AX)safely, so that they did not fear;
But ^(AY)the sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴ So ^(AZ)He brought them to His holy ^[r]land,
To this ^[s](BA)hill country ^(BB)which His right hand had gained.
⁵⁵ He also ^(BC)drove out the nations from them
And ^(BD)apportioned them as an inheritance by measurement,
And had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
⁵⁶ Yet they ^[t](BE)tempted and ^(BF)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
⁵⁷ But turned back and ^(BG)acted treacherously like their fathers;
They ^(BH)turned aside like a treacherous bow.
⁵⁸ For they ^(BI)provoked Him with their ^(BJ)high places
And ^(BK)moved Him to jealousy with their ^(BL)carved images.
⁵⁹ When God heard them, He ^[u]was filled with ^(BM)wrath
And He utterly ^(BN)rejected Israel;
⁶⁰ So that He ^(BO)abandoned the ^(BP)dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent ^[v]which He had pitched among people,
⁶¹ And He gave up His ^(BQ)strength to captivity
And His glory ^(BR)into the hand of the enemy.
⁶² He also ^(BS)turned His people over to the sword,
And ^[w]was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
^63 (BT)Fire devoured ^[x]His young men,
And ^[y]His ^(BU)virgins had no wedding songs.
^64 [z]His ^(BV)priests fell by the sword,
And ^[aa]His ^(BW)widows could not weep.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord ^(BX)awoke as if from sleep,
Like a ^(BY)warrior ^[ab]overcome by wine.
⁶⁶ He ^[ac](BZ)drove His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting disgrace.
⁶⁷ He also ^(CA)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount ^(CB)Zion, which He loved.
⁶⁹ And He ^(CC)built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
⁷⁰ He also ^(CD)chose His servant David
And took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ From ^[ad](CE)the care of the ^[ae]ewes ^(CF)with nursing lambs He brought him
To ^(CG)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel ^(CH)His inheritance.
⁷² So he shepherded them according to the ^(CI)integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.