Page:Book of common prayer (TEC, 1979).pdf/699

 He poured out upon them his blazing anger: * fury, indignation, and distress, a troop of destroying angels.

He gave full rein to his anger; he did not spare their souls from death; * but delivered their lives to the plague.

He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, * the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.

He led out his people like sheep * and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; * but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

He brought them to his holy land, * the mountain his right hand had won.

He drove out the Canaanites before them and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; * he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, * and did not keep his commandments.

They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; * they were undependable like a warped bow.

They grieved him with their hill&#8209;altars * and provoked his displeasure with their idols.

When God heard this, he was angry * and utterly rejected Israel.

He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, * the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.