¹⁶ “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked,^(A) and they did not obey your commands.^{(B) 17} They refused to listen and failed to remember^(C) the miracles^(D) you performed among them. They became stiff-necked^(E) and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.^(F) But you are a forgiving God,^(G) gracious and compassionate,^(H) slow to anger^(I) and abounding in love.^(J) Therefore you did not desert them,^{(K) 18} even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf^(L) and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.^(M)

¹⁹ “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon^(N) them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud^(O) did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. ²⁰ You gave your good Spirit^(P) to instruct^(Q) them. You did not withhold your manna^(R) from their mouths, and you gave them water^(S) for their thirst. ²¹ For forty years^(T) you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing,^(U) their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.^(V)

²² “You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon^[a](W) king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan.^{(X) 23} You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky,^(Y) and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. ²⁴ Their children went in and took possession of the land.^(Z) You subdued^(AA) before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. ²⁵ They captured fortified cities and fertile land;^(AB) they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things,^(AC) wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished;^(AD) they reveled in your great goodness.^(AE)