Mercy in the Wilderness

9You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.

10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted presumptuously against them. So you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.

11You split the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; and you threw their pursuers into the depths like a stone in mighty waters.

12By a pillar of cloud you led them by day, and by a pillar of fire by night to give them light on the way in which they should go.

13You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven, and you gave them upright judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments.

14You made your holy Sabbath known to them, and you commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by the hand of Moses your servant.

15You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and you brought out water from the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16But they, our fathers, acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck, and did not listen to your commandments.

17But they refused to listen and did not remember your wonders that you had done among them. They stiffened their necks and, in their rebellion, appointed a leader to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.

18Even when they made for themselves a cast metal calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and committed great blasphemies,

19But you, in your abundant mercies, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from above them by day, to lead them on the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to give them light and the way in which they should go.

20You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and you gave them water for their thirst.

21For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.