1 | Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! |
2 | I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, |
3 | things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. |
4 | We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought. |
5 | He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children; |
6 | that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, |
7 | so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; |
8 | and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. |
9 | The E'phraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. |
10 | They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. |
11 | They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them. |
12 | In the sight of their fathers he wrought marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zo'an. |
13 | He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. |
14 | In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. |
15 | He cleft rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. |
16 | He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers. |
17 | Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. |
18 | They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. |
19 | They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness? |
20 | He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?" |
21 | Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel; |
22 | because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power. |
23 | Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; |
24 | and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. |
25 | Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. |
26 | He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; |
27 | he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; |
28 | he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations. |
29 | And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. |
30 | But before they had sated their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, |
31 | the anger of God rose against them and he slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel. |
32 | In spite of all this they still sinned; despite his wonders they did not believe. |
33 | So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. |
34 | When he slew them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly. |
35 | They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. |
36 | But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. |
37 | Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant. |
38 | Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath. |
39 | He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. |
40 | How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! |
41 | They tested him again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. |
42 | They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe; |
43 | when he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zo'an. |
44 | He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. |
45 | He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. |
46 | He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust. |
47 | He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. |
48 | He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts. |
49 | He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. |
50 | He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. |
51 | He smote all the first-born in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham. |
52 | Then he led forth his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. |
53 | He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. |
54 | And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. |
55 | He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. |
56 | Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe his testimonies, |
57 | but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow. |
58 | For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their graven images. |
59 | When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. |
60 | He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among men, |
61 | and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. |
62 | He gave his people over to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage. |
63 | Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage song. |
64 | Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. |
65 | Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. |
66 | And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame. |
67 | He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of E'phraim; |
68 | but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. |
69 | He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded for ever. |
70 | He chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; |
71 | from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance. |
72 | With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skilful hand. |