Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Wisdom Led the Israelites through
the Desert
1 Wisdom brought success to
the people of Israel through a
holy prophet.
2 They traveled across
a desert where no one lived and
camped in places where no human
being had ever been.
3 They stood up
to their enemies and fought them
off.
4 When your people grew thirsty,
they called to you, Lord, and you
gave them water flowing out of solid
rock.
5 The disasters that punished
the Egyptians saved your people
when they were in trouble. note
The Punishment of the Egyptians
6
7
8 Because those enemies decreed
that the babies of your people
should be killed, you stirred up the
sources of their everflowing river
and made it foul with blood.
6
7
8 In the desert you let your people
go thirsty, to give them a taste of
how you had punished their enemies.
And then, when they least expected
it, you gave them plenty of
water.
9 When they were being
tested, even though it was a merciful
discipline, they learned how wicked
people were tortured when you
judged them in anger.
10 You tested
your people, as a father tests his
children, to warn them. But you
judged their enemies like a stern
king and condemned them.
11 They
suffered, whether they were near
your people or far from them.
12 Their sorrow was doubled; they
groaned as they looked back on
what had happened.
13 When they
learned that their punishment had
been of benefit to your people, they
realized that it was your work, Lord.
14 The Egyptians had refused to have
anything to do with that man who,
long before as a baby, had been
thrown out and exposed; but as
things worked out, they came to be
amazed at him. The righteous never
suffered a thirst like theirs.
15 Their wickedness misled them
into silly ideas, so that they worshiped
snakes and other disgusting
animals, creatures without any powers
of reason. Because of this, you
punished them with millions of such
animals,
16 and taught them that
punishment for sin takes the same
form as the sin itself. note
17 Your almighty
power, Lord, created the
world out of material that had no
form at all. You could easily have
punished those people by sending an
invasion of bears or savage lions.
18 You could have created new and
terrible animals, that could breathe
fire or roar and send out clouds of
smoke, or shoot out fearful sparks
from their eyes.
19 You could have
made animals like these that would
not have to attack those people to
kill them, but could scare them to
-- --
death just by looking at them.
20 But
this was not necessary. You could
have pursued them with your justice
or struck them dead at the slightest
hint of your power. But you have
chosen to measure, count, and
weigh everything you do.
God Is Powerful and Merciful
21 You can show your great power
any time you wish, and no one can
stand up against it.
22 In your sight
the whole world is a grain of sand,
barely heavy enough to tip a pair of
scales, a drop of dew on the ground
in the morning.
23 You are powerful
enough to do anything, but you are
merciful to everyone; you overlook
our sins and give us time to repent.
24 You love everything that exists;
you do not despise anything that you
have made. If you had not liked it,
you would not have made it in the
first place.
25 How could anything
last, if you did not want it to? How
could it endure, if you had not created
it?
26 You have allowed it all to
exist, O Lord, because it is yours,
and you love every living thing.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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