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| [1]GIVE ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. |
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| [2]I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter proverbs of old. |
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| [3]That which we have heard and known, and which our fathers have told us, |
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| [4]We will not hide from their children, showing to the generation to come the praise of the LORD and his strength and the wonderful works that he has done. |
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| [5]For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make known to their children, |
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| [6]That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children; |
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| [7]That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; |
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| [8]And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. |
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| [9]The children of Ephraim, being armed and throwing forth bows, turned back in the day of battle. |
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| [10]For they kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; |
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| [11]And forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them in the sight of their fathers. |
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| [12]Marvellous things did he in the land of Egypt and in the fields of Zoan. |
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| [13]He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as in skins. |
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| [14]In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. |
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| [15]He cleaved the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of great depths. |
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| [16]He brought forth streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. |
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| [17]But the people continued to sin, and to murmur against the most High in their thirst for water. |
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| [18]And they tempted God in their hearts by asking food to satisfy their desires. |
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| [19]Yea, they complained against God; they said, Can God furnish tables of food in the wilderness? |
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| [20]Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide food for his people? |
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| [21]Therefore the LORD heard this and was angered; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, |
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| [22]Because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation: |
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| [23]Though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven, |
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| [24]And had rained down manna for them to eat and had given them of the bread of heaven. |
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| [25]Man did eat angels' food; he sent them game in abundance. |
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| [26]He caused winds to blow in the skies; and by his power he brought in the south wind. |
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| [27]He rained flesh also upon them like dust, and feathered fowls like the sands of the sea: |
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| [28]And he let these fall in the midst of their camp, round about their tents. |
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| [29]So they did eat and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire. |
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| [30]They relinquished not their craving. But while their food was yet in their mouths, |
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| [31]The anger of God came upon them and slew the richest of them, and made to bow the chosen men of Israel. |
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| [32]Nevertheless they sinned still, and believed not in his wondrous works. |
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| [33]Wherefore their days were spent in emptiness, and their years in impatience. |
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| [34]When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and drew nearer to him. |
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| [35]And they remembered that God was their helper, and the high God their Saviour. |
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| [36]Nevertheless they loved him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues. |
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| [37]For their hearts were not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. |
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| [38]He is merciful, the forgiver of sins, and destroys not; yea, many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. |
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| [39]For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away and comes not again. |
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| [40]How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! |
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| [41]Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and defied the Holy One of Israel. |
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| [42]They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the oppressor, |
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| [43]How he had wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan, |
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| [44]Nor how he had turned their rivers into blood and their brooks, that they could not drink. |
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| [45]He sent swarms of insects among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. |
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| [46]He gave also their crops to the locusts, and their labor to the caterpillars. |
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| [47]He destroyed their vines with hail and their fig trees with frost. |
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| [48]He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to destruction. |
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| [49]He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by the hand of an evil angel. |
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| [50]He resorted to strong measures; he spared not their souls from death, and gave their cattle over to the pestilence; |
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| [51]And smote all the first-born in Egypt, the fairest of their sons in the tabernacles of Ham; |
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| [52]But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. |
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| [53]And he led them on safely so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. |
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| [54]And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had possessed. |
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| [55]He cast out the Gentiles from before them, and allotted them an inheritance by measure, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. |
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| [56]Yet they tempted and provoked the most High God, and kept not his testimonies; |
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| [57]But turned back and dealt deceitfully like their fathers; they were crooked like a twisted bow. |
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| [58]For they provoked him to anger by sacrificing on high places, and made him indignant with their graven images. |
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| [59]When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel, |
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| [60]So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; |
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| [61]And he delivered his people into captivity, and his glory into the oppressor's hand. |
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| [62]He delivered his people to the sword, and disregarded his inheritance. |
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| [63]The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were violated. |
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| [64]Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation. |
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| [65]Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep and like a mighty man who has shaken off the effects of wine. |
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| [66]And he caused his enemies to retreat; he put them to a perpetual reproach. |
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| [67]Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; |
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| [68]But chose the tribe of Judah, mount Zion which he loved. |
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| [69]And he built his sanctuary on a high place, and he established it upon the earth for ever. |
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| [70]He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; |
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| [71]From following the ewes that give suck, he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. |
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| [72]So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. |
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