1 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. |
