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Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
24
Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe His word,
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But complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
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Therefore He raised up His hand in an oath against them, To overthrow them in the wilderness,
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To overthrow their descendants among the nations, And to scatter them in the lands.
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They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, And ate sacrifices made to the dead.
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Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them.
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Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, And the plague was stopped.
31
And that was accounted to him for righteousness To all generations forevermore.
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They angered Him also at the waters of strife, So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
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Because they rebelled against His Spirit, So that he spoke rashly with his lips.
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They did not destroy the peoples, Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
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But they mingled with the Gentiles And learned their works;
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They served their idols, Which became a snare to them.
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They even sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons,
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And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood.
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Thus they were defiled by their own works, And played the harlot by their own deeds.
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Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
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And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, And those who hated them ruled over them.
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Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
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Many times He delivered them; But they rebelled in their counsel, And were brought low for their iniquity.