38 But he was full of tender love. He forgave their sins and didn't destroy his people. Time after time he held back his anger. He didn't let all of his burning anger blaze out.
39 He remembered that they were only human. He remembered they were only a breath of air that drifts by and doesn't return.
40 How often they refused to obey him in the desert! How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!
41 Again and again they put God to the test. They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.
42 They didn't remember his power. They forgot the day he set them free from those who had beaten them down.
43 They forgot how he had shown them his miraculous signs in Egypt. They forgot his miracles in the area of Zoan.
44 He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood. The people of Egypt couldn't drink water from their streams.