24  Then they ^udespised ^vthe pleasant land,

having ^wno faith in his promise.

25  They ^xmurmured in their tents,

and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

26  Therefore he ^yraised his hand and swore to them

that he would make them fall in the wilderness,

27  and would make their offspring fall among the nations,

^zscattering them among the lands.

28  Then they ^ayoked themselves to the ^aBaal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to ^bthe dead;

29  they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,

and a plague broke out among them.

30  Then ^cPhinehas stood up and intervened,

and the plague was stayed.

31  And that was ^dcounted to him as righteousness

from generation to generation forever.

32  They ^eangered him at the waters of Meribah,

and it went ill with Moses on their account,

33  for they ^fmade his spirit bitter,¹

and he ^gspoke rashly with his lips.

34  They did not ^hdestroy the peoples,

ⁱas the Lord commanded them,

35  but they ^jmixed with the nations

and learned to do as they did.

36  They served their idols,

which became ^ka snare to them.

37  They ^lsacrificed their sons

and their daughters to ^mthe demons;

38  they poured out innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was ⁿpolluted with blood.

39  Thus they ^obecame unclean by their acts,

and ^pplayed the whore in their deeds.

40  Then ^qthe anger of the Lord was kindled against ^rhis people,

and he abhorred his ^rheritage;

41  he ^sgave them into the hand of the nations,

so that those who hated them ruled over them.

42  Their enemies ^toppressed them,

and they were brought into subjection under their power.

43  ^uMany times he delivered them,

but they were rebellious in their ^vpurposes

and were ^wbrought low through their iniquity.

44  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,

when he ^xheard their cry.

45  For their sake he ^yremembered his covenant,

and ^zrelented according to ^athe abundance of his steadfast love.

46  He caused them to be ^bpitied

by all those who held them captive.

47  ^cSave us, O Lord our God,

and ^dgather us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.

48  ^eBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

^eAnd let all the people say, “Amen!”

^fPraise the Lord!