23. Therefore He said He would destroy them. [And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the breach before Him to turn away His threatening wrath. [Exod. 32:10, 11, 32.]
24. Then they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land [Canaan]; they believed not His word [neither trusting in, relying on, nor holding to it];
25. But they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.
26. Therefore He lifted up His hand [as if taking an oath] against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,
27. Cast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands [of the earth].
28. They joined themselves also to the [idol] Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices [offered] to the lifeless [gods].
29. Thus they provoked the Lord to anger with their practices, and a plague broke out among them.
30. Then stood up Phinehas [the priest] and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed. [Num. 25:7, 8.]
31. And that was credited to him for righteousness (right doing and right standing with God) to all generations forever.
32. They angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes; [Num. 20:3-13.]
33. For they provoked [Moses'] spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
34. They did not destroy the [heathen] nations as the Lord commanded them,
35. But mingled themselves with the [idolatrous] nations and learned their ways and works
36. And served their idols, which were a snare to them.
37. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons [II Kings 16:3.]
38. And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with their blood.
39. Thus were they defiled by their own works, and they played the harlot and practiced idolatry with their own deeds [of idolatrous rites].
40. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred and rejected His own heritage. [Deut. 32:17.]