| | 1 | A maskil of Asaph. O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. | |
| | 2 | I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-- | |
| | 3 | what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. | |
| | 4 | We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. | |
| | 5 | He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, | |
| | 6 | so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. | |
| | 7 | Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. | |
| | 8 | They would not be like their forefathers--a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. | |
| | 9 | The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; | |
| | 10 | they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law. | |
| | 11 | They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. | |
| | 12 | He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. | |
| | 13 | He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. | |
| | 14 | He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. | |
| | 15 | He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; | |
| | 16 | he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. | |
| | 17 | But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. | |
| | 18 | They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. | |
| | 19 | They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the desert? | |
| | 20 | When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?" | |
| | 21 | When the LORD heard them, he was very angry; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, | |
| | 22 | for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance. | |
| | 23 | Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; | |
| | 24 | he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. | |
| | 25 | Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. | |
| | 26 | He let loose the east wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power. | |
| | 27 | He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore. | |
| | 28 | He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents. | |
| | 29 | They ate till they had more than enough, for he had given them what they craved. | |
| | 30 | But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their mouths, | |
| | 31 | God's anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel. | |
| | 32 | In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe. | |
| | 33 | So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror. | |
| | 34 | Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. | |
| | 35 | They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. | |
| | 36 | But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; | |
| | 37 | their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. | |
| | 38 | Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. | |
| | 39 | He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. | |
| | 40 | How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! | |
| | 41 | Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. | |
| | 42 | They did not remember his power--the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, | |
| | 43 | the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. | |
| | 44 | He turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams. | |
| | 45 | He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. | |
| | 46 | He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. | |
| | 47 | He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. | |
| | 48 | He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. | |
| | 49 | He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility--a band of destroying angels. | |
| | 50 | He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. | |
| | 51 | He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. | |
| | 52 | But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert. | |
| | 53 | He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. | |
| | 54 | Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. | |
| | 55 | He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. | |
| | 56 | But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. | |
| | 57 | Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. | |
| | 58 | They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. | |
| | 59 | When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. | |
| | 60 | He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. | |
| | 61 | He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. | |
| | 62 | He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. | |
| | 63 | Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; | |
| | 64 | their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep. | |
| | 65 | Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine. | |
| | 66 | He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. | |
| | 67 | Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; | |
| | 68 | but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. | |
| | 69 | He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever. | |
| | 70 | He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; | |
| | 71 | from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. | |
| | 72 | And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. | |
