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[1] Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.
[2] I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
[3] Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
[4] We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
[5] For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
[6] That the generation to come might know them, even the children who 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 carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
[10] 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.
[12] Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
[13] He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as a heap.
[14] In the day-time 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 the great depths.
[16] He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
[17] And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.
[18] And they tempted God in their heart by asking food for their desire.
[19] Yes, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table 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 flesh for his people?
[21] Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: 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 upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
[25] Man ate angels' food: he sent them food to the full.
[26] He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
[27] He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
[28] And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.
[29] So they ate, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
[30] They were not estranged from their desire: but while their meat was yet in their mouths,
[31] The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
[32] For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
[33] Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
[34] When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.
[35] And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
[36] Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.
[37] For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
[38] But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yes, many a time he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
[39] For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
[40] How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
[41] Yes, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
[42] They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
[43] How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
[44] And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
[45] He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
[46] He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
[47] He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
[48] He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
[49] He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
[50] He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
[51] And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
[52] But made his own people to go forth 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 purchased.
[55] He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, 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 unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy 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 delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
[62] He gave over his people also to the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
[63] The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
[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 that shouteth by reason of wine.
[66] And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: 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, the mount Zion which he loved.
[69] And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
[70] He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheep-folds:
[71] From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
[72] So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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