Psalm 78:32–41

³²But even after all that, they kept on sinning.

Even after they had seen the miracles he did, they still didn’t believe.

³³So he brought their days to an end like a puff of smoke.

He ended their years with terror.

³⁴Every time God killed some of them, the others would look to him.

They gladly turned back to him again.

³⁵They remembered that God was their Rock.

They remembered that God Most High had set them free.

³⁶But they didn’t mean it when they praised him.

They lied to him when they spoke.

³⁷Their hearts were not true to him.

They weren’t faithful to the covenant he had made with them.

³⁸But he was full of tender love.

He forgave their sins

and didn’t destroy his people.

Time after time he held back his anger.

He didn’t let all of his burning anger blaze out.

³⁹He remembered that they were only human.

He remembered they were only a breath of air

that drifts by and doesn’t return.

⁴⁰How often they refused to obey him in the desert!

How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!

⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test.

They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.