[1] Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
[2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
[3] things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
[4] We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
[5] He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
[6] that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
[7] so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
[8] and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
[9] The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
[10] They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
[11] They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
[12] In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
[13] He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.
[14] In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.
[15] He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
[16] He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
[17] Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
[18] They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
[19] They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
[20] “He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”
[21] Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,
[22] because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.
[23] Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
[24] and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.
[25] Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
[26] He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
[27] he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
[28] he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
[29] And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
[30] But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,
[31] the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
[32] In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.
[33] So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.
[34] When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
[35] They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
[36] But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
[37] Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.
[38] Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.
[39] He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
[40] How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
[41] They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
[42] They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
[43] when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
[44] He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
[45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
[46] He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
[47] He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
[48] He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
[49] He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
[50] He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
[51] He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
[52] Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
[53] He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
[54] And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
[55] He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
[56] Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
[57] but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
[59] When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
[60] He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
[61] and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.
[62] He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.
[63] Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song.
[64] Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
[65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
[66] And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
[67] He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
[68] but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
[69] He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
[70] He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
[71] from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
[72] With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.