Oct 18, 2019
16 In the camp
they grew envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to
the Lord.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed
Dathan;
it buried the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed among their
followers;
a flame consumed the wicked.
19 At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped an idol cast from
metal.
20 They exchanged their glorious
God
for an image of a bull, which eats
grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved
them,
who had done great things in
Egypt,
22 miracles in the land of Ham
and awesome deeds by the Red
Sea.
23 So he said he would
destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before
him
to keep his wrath from destroying
them.
24 Then they
despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe his
promise.
25 They grumbled in their
tents
and did not obey the Lord.
26 So he swore to them with uplifted
hand
that he would make them fall in the
wilderness,
27 make their descendants fall among the
nations
and scatter them throughout the
lands.
28 They yoked
themselves to the Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless
gods;
29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked
deeds,
and a plague broke out among
them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and
intervened,
and the plague was checked.
31 This was credited to him as
righteousness
for endless generations to
come.
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered
the Lord,
and trouble came to Moses because of
them;
33 for they rebelled against the
Spirit of God,
and rash words came from Moses’ lips.[a]