• 1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears 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 has 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 which 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 showed 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 an heap.
  • 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
  • 15 He split 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 meat for their lust.
  • 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 on them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
  • 25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat 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 on them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
  • 28 And he let it fall in the middle of their camp, round about their habitations.
  • 29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
  • 30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
  • 31 The wrath of God came on 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 did flatter 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 turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
  • 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away, and comes 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 worked 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 sycomore trees with frost.
  • 48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
  • 49 He cast on 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 firstborn 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 his people over 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 shouts by reason of wine.
  • 66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: 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 has established for ever.
  • 70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
  • 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.