Psalm 106:13-31

Contemporary English Version

¹³ But they soon forgot
what you had done
    and rejected your advice.
^14 (A) They became greedy for food
and tested you there
    in the desert.
¹⁵ So you gave them
    what they wanted,
but later you destroyed them
    with a horrible disease.

^16 (B) Everyone in camp was jealous
of Moses and of Aaron,
    your chosen priest.
¹⁷ Dathan and Abiram rebelled,
and the earth opened up
    and swallowed them.
¹⁸ Then fire broke out
and destroyed all
    of their followers.

^19 (C) At Horeb your people
made and worshiped the statue
²⁰     of a bull, instead of you,
    their glorious God.
²¹ You worked powerful miracles
    to save them from Egypt,
but they forgot about you
²² and the fearsome things
    you did at the Red Sea.^[a]
23 You were angry and started
    to destroy them,
but Moses, your chosen leader,
    begged you not to do it.

^24 (D) They would not trust
    you, Lord,
and they did not like
    the promised land.
²⁵ They would not obey you,
and they grumbled
    in their tents.
²⁶ So you threatened them
by saying, “I'll kill you
    out here in the desert!
^27 (E) I'll scatter your children
    everywhere in the world.”

^28 (F) Your people became followers
    of a god named Baal Peor,
and they ate sacrifices
    offered to the dead.^[b]
29 They did such terrible things
that you punished them
    with a deadly disease.
³⁰ But Phinehas^[c] helped them,
    and the sickness stopped.
³¹ Now he will always
    be highly honored.