Sep 18, 2017
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]
34 They did not
destroy the peoples
as the Lord had
commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the
nations
and adopted their customs.
36 They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to false
gods.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and
daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of
Canaan,
and the land was desecrated by their
blood.
39 They defiled themselves by what they
did;
by their deeds they prostituted
themselves.
40 Therefore the
Lord was angry with his
people
and abhorred his inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hands of the
nations,
and their foes ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and subjected them to their
power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and they wasted away in their
sin.
44 Yet he took note of their
distress
when he heard their cry;
45 for their sake he remembered his
covenant
and out of his great love he
relented.
46 He caused all who held them
captive
to show them mercy.
47 Save us,
Lord our God,
and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy
name
and glory in your praise.
48 Praise be to
the Lord, the God of
Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord.