Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it?

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> found him<n id="2" /> in a desolate land,p> <p class="poetry">in an empty wasteland where animals howl.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">He continually guarded him<n id="4" /> and taught him;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">he continually protected him<n id="6" /> like the pupil<n id="7" /> of his eye.p>

He then asked, &#8220;Which invasion route are we going to take?&#8221;<n id="1" /> Jehoram<n id="2" /> answered, &#8220;By the road through the Desert of Edom.&#8221;

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned<n id="1" />) and were unable to speak the language of Judah.

<p class="poetry">to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">a desert where there are no human beings,<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Like strong winds blowing in the south,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">one invades from the desert,p> <p class="poetry">from a land that is feared.p>

<p class="poetry">This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then the desert will become an orchardp> <p class="poetry">and the orchard will be considered a forest.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Let the desert and its cities shout out,p> <p class="poetry">the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!p> <p class="poetry">Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;p> <p class="poetry">let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.p>

<p class="poetry">But Babylonia will be put to great shame.p> <p class="poetry">The land where you were born<n id="1" /> will be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a dry and barren desert.p>

I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

and rejected Esau.<n id="1" /> I turned Esau&#8217;s<n id="2" /> mountains into a deserted wasteland<n id="3" /> and gave his territory<n id="4" /> to the wild jackals.&#8221;p>

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, &#8220;Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Then Moses led Israel to journey<n id="2" /> away from the Red Sea. They went out to the Desert of Shur, walked for three days<n id="3" /> into the desert, and found no water.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Then the entire community of Israel<n id="2" /> entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month,<n id="3" /> and the people stayed in Kadesh.<n id="4" /> Miriam died and was buried there.<n id="5" />p>

For<n id="1" /> in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you<n id="2" /> rebelled against my command<n id="3" /> to show me as holy<n id="4" /> before their eyes over the water &#8211; the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So we turned away from our relatives<n id="1" /> the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route,<n id="2" /> from Elat<n id="3" /> and Ezion Geber,<n id="4" /> and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Who is there from the entire human race<n id="1" /> who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

<p class="bodytext">The land allotted to the tribe of Judah by its clans reached to the border of Edom, to the Wilderness of Zin in the Negev far to the south.<n id="1" />

We swear we have done this because we were worried that<n id="1" /> in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, &#8216;What relationship do you have with the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel?<n id="2" />

Gideon<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;If you really are pleased with me,<n id="2" /> then give me<n id="3" /> a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me.