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