⁵⁷ They turned back and were as faithless as their parents.
    They were as undependable as a crooked bow.

¹⁶ They look everywhere except to the Most High.
    They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
    because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
    will laugh at them.

⁴¹ Again and again they tested God’s patience
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant
    and refused to live by his instructions.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done—
    the great wonders he had shown them,
¹² the miracles he did for their ancestors
    on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
¹³ For he divided the sea and led them through,
    making the water stand up like walls!
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
    and all night by a pillar of fire.
¹⁵ He split open the rocks in the wilderness
    to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
¹⁶ He made streams pour from the rock,
    making the waters flow down like a river!

¹⁷ Yet they kept on sinning against him,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,
    demanding the foods they craved.
¹⁹ They even spoke against God himself, saying,
    “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.
²⁰ Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
    but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
²¹ When the Lord heard them, he was furious.
    The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
    Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
²² for they did not believe God
    or trust him to care for them.
²³ But he commanded the skies to open;
    he opened the doors of heaven.
²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat;
    he gave them bread from heaven.
²⁵ They ate the food of angels!
    God gave them all they could hold.
²⁶ He released the east wind in the heavens
    and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
²⁷ He rained down meat as thick as dust—
    birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
²⁸ He caused the birds to fall within their camp
    and all around their tents.
²⁹ The people ate their fill.
    He gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they satisfied their craving,
    while the meat was yet in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them,
    and he killed their strongest men.
    He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

³² But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.
    Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
³³ So he ended their lives in failure,
    their years in terror.
³⁴ When God began killing them,
    they finally sought him.
    They repented and took God seriously.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their rock,
    that God Most High^[a] was their redeemer.
³⁶ But all they gave him was lip service;
    they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their hearts were not loyal to him.
    They did not keep his covenant.

⁸ Then they will not be like their ancestors—
    stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
    refusing to give their hearts to God.