Immerse: Poets Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 130
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IMMERSE
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POETS
The people made a calf at Mount Sinai;
they bowed before an image made of gold.
They traded their glorious God
for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot God, their savior,
who had done such great things in Egypt—
such wonderful things in the land of Ham,
such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
So he declared he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord
and the people.
He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy
them.
The people refused to enter the pleasant land,
for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
Instead, they grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the Lord.
Therefore, he solemnly swore
that he would kill them in the wilderness,
that he would scatter their descendants among the
nations,
exiling them to distant lands.
Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor;
they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
They angered the Lord with all these things,
so a plague broke out among them.
But Phinehas had the courage to intervene,
and the plague was stopped.
So he has been regarded as a righteous man
ever since that time.
At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord,
causing Moses serious trouble.
They made Moses angry,
and he spoke foolishly.
Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land,
as the Lord had commanded them.
Instead, they mingled among the pagans
and adopted their evil customs.
They worshiped their idols,
which led to their downfall.
106:19-36
