| 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 ancestors have told us. |
| 4 | We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. |
| 5 | He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; |
| 6 | that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up 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 ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. |
| 9 | The Ephraimites, 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 ancestors he worked marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. |
| 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 night long with a fiery light. |
| 15 | He split rocks open 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 | Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out and torrents overflowed, can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?” |
| 21 | Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of rage; 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 | he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. |
| 25 | Mortals ate of the bread of 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 within their camp, all around their dwellings. |
| 29 | And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. |
| 30 | But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, |
| 31 | the anger of God rose against them and he killed the strongest of them, and laid low the flower of Israel. |
| 32 | In spite of all this they still sinned; they did not believe in his wonders. |
| 33 | So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. |
| 34 | When he killed 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; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath. |
| 39 | He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again. |
| 40 | How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! |
| 41 | They tested God 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 displayed his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan. |
| 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 struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham. |
| 52 | Then he led out 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 hill, to the mountain that 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 the Most High God, and rebelled against him. They did not observe his decrees, |
| 57 | but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors; they twisted like a treacherous bow. |
| 58 | For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols. |
| 59 | When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. |
| 60 | He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mortals, |
| 61 | and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. |
| 62 | He gave his people to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage. |
| 63 | Fire devoured their young men, and their girls 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 warrior shouting because of wine. |
| 66 | He put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting disgrace. |
| 67 | He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; |
| 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 forever. |
| 70 | He chose his servant David, and took him from the sheepfolds; |
| 71 | from tending the nursing ewes he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his inheritance. |
| 72 | With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skillful hand. |