¹⁶ Do not put the Lord your God to the test^(A) as you did at Massah.

Quail From the Lord

⁴ The rabble with them began to crave other food,^(A) and again the Israelites started wailing^(B) and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

⁹ We should not test Christ,^[a](A) as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.^(B)

² You desire but do not have, so you kill.^(A) You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive,^(B) because you ask with wrong motives,^(C) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁶ Now these things occurred as examples^(A) to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

² In the desert the whole community grumbled^(A) against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!^(B) There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food^(C) we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”^(D)