1Listen, my people, to my law. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth in a parable. I will speak dark sayings from long ago,
3things we have heard and known, things our fathers have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children. We will tell the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and the wonderful works he has done.
5For he set up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to make known to their children.
6So the generation to come would know them, even the children yet to be born, who would rise up and tell them to their children.
7Then they would set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.
8They would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart right, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The children of Ephraim were armed and carried bows, but they turned back on the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God, and they refused to walk in his law.
11They forgot his works, and the wonders he had shown them.
12He did marvellous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and made them pass through. He made the waters stand up like a heap.
14In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as from the great depths.
16He brought streams out of the rock, and made water run down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their heart by asking for food to satisfy their craving.
19They even spoke against God. They said, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?"
20"Look, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, and streams overflowed. But can he give bread too? Can he provide meat for his people?"
21So the LORD heard this, and he was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also rose against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation.
23Yet he had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven.
24He had rained down manna for them to eat, and had given them the grain of heaven.
25Man ate the food of angels. He sent them food until they were full.
26He made an east wind blow in the heavens, and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
28He let it fall in the middle of their camp, all around where they lived.
29So they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
30But they had not yet turned from their craving. While the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God came upon them. He killed the strongest among them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel.
32For all this they still sinned, and did not believe, even after his wonderful works.
33So he made their days come to nothing, and their years end in trouble.
34When he killed them, then they sought him. They turned back and searched for God early.
35They remembered that God was their rock, and that the high God was their redeemer.
36Yet they flattered him with their mouths, and lied to him with their tongues.
37For their heart was not right with him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38But he was full of compassion. He forgave their sin and did not destroy them. Many times he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39For he remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes by and does not come back.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert.
41Again and again they turned back and tested God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he saved them from the enemy,
43how he had worked his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.
45He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labour to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
48He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
50He made a path for his anger. He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague.
52But he made his own people go out like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53He led them safely, so that they were not afraid. But the sea covered their enemies.
54He brought them to the border of his holy place, to this mountain, which his right hand had won.
55He drove out the nations before them, and measured out their inheritance by line. He made the tribes of Israel live in their tents.
56Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not keep his testimonies.
57They turned back and were unfaithful like their fathers. They twisted aside like a faulty bow.
58They made him angry with their high places, and stirred him to jealousy with their carved images.
59When God heard this, he was angry, and he greatly hated Israel.
60So he left the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men.
61He gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
62He gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
63Fire consumed their young men, and their young women were not given in marriage.
64Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no weeping for them.
65Then the Lord awoke as one waking out of sleep, like a strong man who shouts because of wine.
66He struck his enemies from behind. He put them to everlasting shame.
68But he chose the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69He built his holy place like the high heavens, like the earth which he has established for ever.
70He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
71He brought him from following the ewes with their young, to shepherd Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72So he shepherded them with an honest heart, and guided them with skilful hands.