8. after you had shown by the thirst they experiencedhow you punished their adversaries.
9. For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised,they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented.
10. You tested your own people, admonishing them as a father;but as a stern king you probed and condemned the wicked.
11. Those near and far were equally afflicted:
12. for a twofold grief took hold of themand a groaning at the remembrance of the ones who had departed.
13. For when they heard that the cause of their own tormentswas a benefit to these others, they recognized the Lord.
14. For though they had mocked and rejected him who had been cast out and abandoned long ago,in the final outcome, they marveled at him,since their thirst proved unlike that of the righteous.
15. In return for their senseless, wicked thoughts,which misled them into worshiping dumb serpents and worthless insects,You sent upon them swarms of dumb creatures for vengeance;
16. that they might recognize that one is punished by the very things through which one sins.
17. For not without means was your almighty hand,that had fashioned the universe from formless matter,to send upon them many bears or fierce lions,
18. Or newly created, wrathful, unknown beastsbreathing forth fiery breath,Or pouring out roaring smoke,or flashing terrible sparks from their eyes.
19. Not only could these attack and completely destroy them;even their frightful appearance itself could slay.
20. Even without these, they could have been killed at a single blast,pursued by justiceand winnowed by your mighty spirit.But you have disposed all things by measure and number and weight.
21. For great strength is always present with you;who can resist the might of your arm?
22. Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
23. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.
24. For you love all things that areand loathe nothing that you have made;for you would not fashion what you hate.