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Disastrous Storms Strike Egypt

¹⁵ To escape from your hand is impossible;
¹⁶ for the ungodly, refusing to know you,
were flogged by the strength of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms,
and utterly consumed by fire.
¹⁷ For—most incredible of all—in water, which quenches all things,
the fire had still greater effect,
for the universe defends the righteous.
¹⁸ At one time the flame was restrained,
so that it might not consume the creatures sent against the ungodly,
but that seeing this they might know
that they were being pursued by the judgement of God;
¹⁹ and at another time even in the midst of water it burned more intensely than fire,
to destroy the crops of the unrighteous land.

The Israelites Receive Manna

²⁰ Instead of these things you gave your people food of angels,
and without their toil you supplied them from heaven with bread ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every taste.
²¹ For your sustenance manifested your sweetness towards your children;
and the bread, ministering^* to the desire of the one who took it,
was changed to suit everyone’s liking.
²² Snow and ice withstood fire without melting,
so that they might know that the crops of their enemies
were being destroyed by the fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed in the showers of rain;
²³ whereas the fire,^* in order that the righteous might be fed,
even forgot its native power.

²⁴ For creation, serving you who made it,
exerts itself to punish the unrighteous,
and in kindness relaxes on behalf of those who trust in you.
²⁵ Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms,
it served your all-nourishing bounty,
according to the desire of those who had need,^*
26 so that your children, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn
that it is not the production of crops that feeds humankind
but that your word sustains those who trust in you.
²⁷ For what was not destroyed by fire
was melted when simply warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun,
²⁸ to make it known that one must rise before the sun to give you thanks,
and must pray to you at the dawning of the light;
²⁹ for the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like wintry frost,
and flow away like waste water.

Terror Strikes the Egyptians at Night

17Great are your judgements and hard to describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.

¹⁸ Three things are too wonderful for me;
   four I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
   the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
   and the way of a man with a girl.

²⁰ This is the way of an adulteress:
   she eats, and wipes her mouth,
   and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles;
   under four it cannot bear up:
²² a slave when he becomes king,
   and a fool when glutted with food;
²³ an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
   and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
   yet they are exceedingly wise:
²⁵ the ants are a people without strength,
   yet they provide their food in the summer;
²⁶ the badgers are a people without power,
   yet they make their homes in the rocks;
²⁷ the locusts have no king,
   yet all of them march in rank;
²⁸ the lizard^* can be grasped in the hand,
   yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ Three things are stately in their stride;
   four are stately in their gait:
³⁰ the lion, which is mightiest among wild animals
   and does not turn back before any;
³¹ the strutting rooster,^* the he-goat,
   and a king striding before^* his people.