18 Even after they had cast an image of a calf

for themselves and said,

“This is your god who brought you out of Egypt,”h

and they had committed terrible blasphemies,

19 you did not abandon them in the wilderness

because of your great compassion.

During the day the pillar of cloud

never turned away from them,

guiding them on their journey.

And during the night the pillar of fire

illuminated the way they should go.i

20 You sent your good Spiritj to instruct them.

You did not withhold your mannak from their mouths,

and you gave them water for their thirst.l

21 You provided for them in the wilderness forty years,m

and they lacked nothing.

Their clothes did not wear out,

and their feet did not swell.n

22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples

and established boundaries for them.

They took possession

of the land of King SihonC of Heshbon

and of the land of King Og of Bashan.o

23 You multiplied their descendants

like the stars of the skyp

and brought them to the land

you told their ancestors to go in and possess.

24 So their descendants went in and possessed the land:

You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them

and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them,q

to do as they pleased with them.

25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land

and took possession of well-supplied houses,

cisterns cut out of rock, vineyards,

olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.r

They ate, were filled,

became prosperous, and delighted in your great goodness.