17. Because of this, the earth opened up;it swallowed Dathanand buried Abiram and the other rebels.
18. Fire fell upon their followers;a flame consumed the wicked.
19. The people made a calf at Mount Sinai;they bowed before an image made of gold.
20. They traded their glorious Godfor a statue of a grass-eating bull.
21. They forgot God, their savior,who had done such great things in Egypt—
22. such wonderful things in the land of Ham,such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23. 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.
24. The people refused to enter the pleasant land,for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
25. Instead, they grumbled in their tentsand refused to obey the lord.
26. Therefore, he solemnly sworethat he would kill them in the wilderness,
27. that he would scatter their descendants among the nations,exiling them to distant lands.
28. Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor;they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!