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. |