Psalms 95:9-10

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, ¹ 

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ²  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ³ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

² tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

³ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

⁴ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.