36. But they didn't mean it when they praised him. They lied to him when they spoke.
37. Their hearts were not true to him. They weren't faithful to the covenant he had made with them.
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.