The LORD's unfailing love and mercy still continue,

and he said to the LORD, "Why have you treated me so badly? Why are you displeased with me? Why have you given me the responsibility for all these people?

Some people ruin themselves by their own stupid actions and then blame the LORD.

My bitterness will turn into peace. You save my life from all danger; You forgive all my sins.

It is the living who praise you, As I praise you now. Parents tell their children how faithful you are.

but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger.

If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it."

and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion,

First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands.

The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have killed some of the LORD's people."

The people of Israel said to Moses, "Then that's the end of us!

Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes in grief, threw themselves to the ground before the LORD's Covenant Box, and lay there till evening, with dust on their heads to show their sorrow.

What can I say, O Lord, now that Israel has retreated from the enemy?

The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! Why are you lying on the ground like this?

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They retreat from them because they themselves have now been condemned to destruction! I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy the things you were ordered not to take!

At once the LORD God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box,

and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the LORD had punished Uzzah in anger.

"Why should I help you?" Elisha said to the king of Israel. "Go and consult those prophets that your father and mother consulted." "No!" Joram replied. "It is the LORD who has put us three kings at the mercy of the king of Moab."

And he sent a messenger to get Elisha. Meanwhile Elisha was at home with some elders who were visiting him. Before the king's messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "That murderer is sending someone to kill me! Now, when he gets here, shut the door and don't let him come in. The king himself will be right behind him."

Even after everything that has happened to us in punishment for our sins and wrongs, we know that you, our God, have punished us less than we deserve and have allowed us to survive.

He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom; there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve.

At the corner of every street your people collapse from weakness; they are like deer caught in a hunter's net. They have felt the force of God's anger.

You threw me down into the depths, to the very bottom of the sea, where the waters were all around me, and all your mighty waves rolled over me.

I thought I had been banished from your presence and would never see your holy Temple again.

After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead. "I am better off dead than alive," he said.

But God said to him, "What right do you have to be angry about the plant?" Jonah replied, "I have every right to be angry---angry enough to die!"

We have sinned against the LORD, so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light; we will live to see him save us.

Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children? "My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.

Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment; your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father?

In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!

When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.

They were burned by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who has authority over these plagues. But they would not turn from their sins and praise his greatness.