1Give ear, O my people , to my law : Incline your ears to the words of my mouth . 2I will open my mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings of old , 3Which we have heard and known , And our fathers have told us . 4We will not hide them from their children , Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah , And his strength , and his wondrous works that he hath done . 5For 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 ; 6That the generation to come might know them , even the children that should be born ; Who should arise and tell them to their children , 7That they might set their hope in God , And not forget the works of God , But keep his commandments , 8And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation , A generation that set not their heart aright , And whose spirit was not stedfast with God .
Israel's Rebellion and God's Patience
9The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows , Turned back in the day of battle . 10They kept not the covenant of God , And refused to walk in his law ; 11And they forgat his doings , And his wondrous works that he had showed them . 12Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt , in the field of Zoan . 13He clave the sea , and caused them to pass through ; And he made the waters to stand as a heap . 14In the day-time also he led them with a cloud , And all the night with a light of fire. 15He clave rocks in the wilderness , And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths . 16He brought streams also out of the rock , And caused waters to run down like rivers .
The Consequences of Unfaithfulness
17Yet went they on still to sin against him , To rebel against the Most High in the desert . 18And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire . 19Yea, they spake against God; They said , Can God prepare a table in the wilderness ? 20Behold , he smote the rock , so that waters gushed out , And streams overflowed ; Can he give bread also ? Will he provide flesh for his people ? 21Therefore Jehovah heard , and was wroth ; And a fire was kindled against Jacob , And anger also went up against Israel ; 22Because they believed not in God , And trusted not in his salvation . 23Yet he commanded the skies above , And opened the doors of heaven ; 24And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven . 25Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full . 26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens ; And by his power he guided the south wind . 27He rained flesh also upon them as the dust , And winged birds as the sand of the seas : 28And he let it fall in the midst of their camp , Round about their habitations . 29So they did eat, and were well filled ; And he gave them their own desire . 30They were not estranged from that which they desired , Their food was yet in their mouths , 31When the anger of God went up against them , And slew of the fattest of them , And smote down the young men of Israel .
God's Sovereignty and Provision
32For all this they sinned still , And believed not in his wondrous works . 33Therefore their days did he consume in vanity , And their years in terror. 34When he slew them , then they inquired after him ; And they returned and sought God earnestly . 35And they remembered that God was their rock , And the Most High God their redeemer . 36But they flattered him with their mouth , And lied unto him with their tongue . 37For their heart was not right with him , Neither were they faithful in his covenant . 38But he , being merciful , forgave their iniquity , and destroyed them not : Yea, many a time turned he his anger away , And did not stir up all his wrath . 39And he remembered that they were but flesh , A wind that passeth away , and cometh not again .
The Call to Faithfulness
40How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness , And grieve him in the desert ! 41And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel . 42They remembered not his hand , Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary ; 43How he set his signs in Egypt , And his wonders in the field of Zoan , 44And turned their rivers into blood , And their streams , so that they could not drink . 45He sent among them swarms of flies , which devoured them ; And frogs , which destroyed them . 46He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar , And their labor unto the locust . 47He destroyed their vines with hail , And their sycomore-trees with frost . 48He gave over their cattle also to the hail , And their flocks to hot thunderbolts . 49He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger , Wrath , and indignation , and trouble , A band of angels of evil . 50He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death , But gave their life over to the pestilence , 51And smote all the first-born in Egypt , The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham . 52But he led forth his own people like sheep , And guided them in the wilderness like a flock . 53And he led them safely, so that they feared not ; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary , To this mountain , which his right hand had gotten . 55He drove out the nations also before them , And allotted them for an inheritance by line , And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God , And kept not his testimonies ; 57But turned back , and dealt treacherously like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow . 58For they provoked him to anger with their high places , And moved him to jealousy with their graven images . 59When God heard this , he was wroth , And greatly abhorred Israel ; 60So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh , The tent which he placed among men; 61And delivered his strength into captivity , And his glory into the adversary ’s hand . 62He gave his people over also unto the sword , And was wroth with his inheritance . 63Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song. 64Their priests fell by the sword ; And their widows made no lamentation . 65Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep , Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine . 66And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach . 67Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph , And chose not the tribe of Ephraim, 68But chose the tribe of Judah , The mount Zion which he loved. 69And he built his sanctuary like the heights , Like the earth which he hath established for ever . 70He chose David also his servant , And took him from the sheepfolds : 71From following the ewes that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people , and Israel his inheritance . 72So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart , And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands .