Nehemiah 9:12-21 - Wandering In The Wilderness

¹² And you went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go. ¹³ You came down on Mount Sinai, and your voice came to them from heaven, giving them right decisions and true laws, good rules and orders. ¹⁴ They received word of your holy Sabbath from you. You gave them orders and rules and a law, by the hand of Moses your servant. ¹⁵ They received bread from heaven when they were in need, and you made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land that your hand give them. ¹⁶ But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and paid no attention to your orders. ¹⁷ They would not obey you and gave no thought to the wonders you did among them. They became stubborn and turning away from you. They appointed a leader over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt. However, you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up. ¹⁸ Even when they made for themselves a bull out of metal, and said: 'This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry.' ¹⁹ Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go. ²⁰ You gave your good Spirit to be their teacher. You did not hold back your manna from their mouths. You gave them water when they had need of it. ²¹ Truly, for forty years you were their support in the wilderness. They needed nothing. Their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired.