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God's Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

^1 (C1)Listen, O my people, to my teaching;
^(C2)Incline your ears to the words of my mouth and be willing to learn.

² I will ^(C1)open my mouth in a parable to instruct using examples;
I will utter ^(C2)dark and puzzling sayings of old that contain important truth— ^(VR1)

³ Which we have heard and known,
And ^(C1)our fathers have told us.

⁴ We will ^(C1)not hide them from their children,
But we will ^(C2)tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
And tell of His great might and power and the ^(C3)wonderful works that He has done.

⁵ For He established a ^(C1)testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a ^(C2)law in Israel,
Which He ^(C3)commanded our fathers
That they should ^(C4)teach to their children the great facts of God's transactions with Israel,

^6 (C1)That the generation to come might know them, that ^(C2)the children still to be born
May arise and ^(C3)recount them to their children,

⁷ That they should place their confidence in God
And ^(C1)not forget the works of God,
But ^(C2)keep His commandments,

⁸ And ^(C1)not be like their fathers—
A ^(C2)stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that ^(C3)did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not ^(C4)faithful to God.

⁹ The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and ^(C1)carrying bows,
Yet ^(C2)they turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰ They ^(C1)did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to ^(C2)walk according to His law;

¹¹ And they ^(C1)forgot His incredible works
And His miraculous wonders that He had shown them.

^12 (C1)He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the ^(C2)field of Zoan where Pharaoh resided.

¹³ He ^(C1)divided the Red Sea and allowed them to pass through it,
And He made the waters ^(C2)stand up like water behind a dam. ^(VR1)

¹⁴ In the ^(C1)daytime He led them with a cloud
And all the night with a ^(C2)light of fire. ^(VR1)

¹⁵ He ^(C1)split rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant water to drink like the ocean depths.

¹⁶ He ^(C1)brought streams also from the rock at Rephidim and Kadesh
And caused waters to run down like rivers. ^(VR1)

¹⁷ Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By ^(C1)rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸ And in their hearts they ^(C1)put God to the test
By asking for ^(C2)food according to their selfish appetite.

¹⁹ Then they spoke against God;
They said, "^(C1)Can God prepare food for a table in the wilderness?

²⁰ "Behold, He ^(C1)struck the rock so that waters gushed out
And the streams overflowed;
Can He give bread also?
Or will He provide ^(C2)meat for His people?"

²¹ Therefore, when the LORD heard, He was ^(C1)full of wrath;
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
And His anger mounted up against Israel,

²² Because they ^(C1)did not believe in God they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him,
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).

²³ Yet He commanded the clouds from above
And ^(C1)opened the doors of heaven;

²⁴ And He ^(C1)rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them the ^(C2)grain of heaven. ^(VR1)

²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels;
God sent them provision ^(C1)in abundance.

²⁶ He ^(C1)caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
And by His unlimited power He guided the south wind.

²⁷ He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And ^(C1)winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas. ^(VR1)

²⁸ And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
Around their tents.

²⁹ So they ^(C1)ate and were well filled,
He gave them what they craved.

³⁰ Before they had satisfied their desire,
And ^(C1)while their food was in their mouths, ^(VR1)

³¹ The ^(C1)wrath of God rose against them
And killed some of the ^(C2)strongest of them,
And subdued the choice young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this they ^(C1)still sinned,
For they ^(C2)did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.

³³ Therefore He consumed ^(C1)their days like a breath in emptiness and futility
And their years in sudden terror.

³⁴ When He killed some of them, then those remaining ^(C1)sought Him,
And they returned to Him and searched ^(C2)diligently for God for a time.

³⁵ And they remembered that God was their ^(C1)rock,
And the Most High God their ^(C2)Redeemer.

³⁶ Nevertheless they ^(C1)flattered Him with their mouths
And ^(C2)lied to Him with their tongues.

³⁷ For their heart was not ^(C1)steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant. ^(VR1)

^38 (F1)But He, the source of ^(C1)compassion and lovingkindness, ^(C2)forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;
Many times He ^(C3)restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.

³⁹ For ^(C1)He graciously remembered that they were mere human ^(C2)flesh,
A ^(C3)wind that goes and does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they ^(C1)rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And ^(C2)grieved Him in the ^(C3)desert!

⁴¹ Again and again they ^(C1)tempted God,
And distressed the ^(C2)Holy One of Israel.

⁴² They did not ^(C1)remember the miracles worked by ^(C2)His powerful hand,
Nor the day when He ^(C3)redeemed them from the enemy,

⁴³ How He worked His ^(C1)miracles in Egypt
And His ^(C2)wonders in the field of Zoan where Pharaoh resided,

⁴⁴ And ^(C1)turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.

⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of ^(C1)flies which devoured them,
And ^(C2)frogs which destroyed them.

⁴⁶ He also gave their crops to the ^(C1)grasshopper,
And the fruit of their labor to the ^(C2)locust.

⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with great ^(C1)hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.

⁴⁸ He gave over their ^(C1)cattle also to the hailstones,
And their flocks and herds to thunderbolts. ^(VR1)

⁴⁹ He ^(C1)sent upon them His burning anger, ^(VR1)
His fury and indignation and distress,
A band of angels of destruction among them.

⁵⁰ He leveled a path for His anger to give it free run;
He did not spare their souls from death,
But ^(C1)turned over their lives to the plague.

⁵¹ He ^(C1)killed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The ^(C2)first and best of their strength in the tents of the land of the sons of ^(C3)Ham.

⁵² But God ^(C1)led His own people forward like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness ^(C2)like a good shepherd with a flock.

⁵³ He led them ^(C1)safely, so that they did not fear;
But ^(C2)the sea engulfed their enemies. ^(VR1)

⁵⁴ So ^(C1)He brought them to His holy land,
To this ^(C2)mountain Zion ^(C3)which His right hand had acquired.

⁵⁵ He also ^(C1)drove out the nations before the sons of Israel
And ^(C2)allotted their land as an inheritance, measured out and partitioned;
And He had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents the tents of those who had been dispossessed.

⁵⁶ Yet they ^(C1)tempted and ^(C2)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).

⁵⁷ They turned back and ^(C1)acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were ^(C2)twisted like a warped bow that will not respond to the archer's aim.

⁵⁸ For they ^(C1)provoked Him to righteous anger with their ^(C2)high places devoted to idol worship
And ^(C3)moved Him to jealousy with their ^(C4)carved images by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His.

⁵⁹ When God heard this, He was filled with righteous ^(C1)wrath;
And utterly ^(C2)rejected Israel, greatly hating her ways,

⁶⁰ So that He ^(C1)abandoned the ^(C2)tabernacle at Shiloh,
The tent in which He had dwelled among men,

⁶¹ And gave up His ^(C1)strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity,
And His glory ^(C2)into the hand of the enemy (the Philistines). ^(VR1)

⁶² He also ^(C1)handed His people over to the sword,
And was infuriated with His inheritance (Israel). ^(VR1)

⁶³ The ^(C1)fire of war devoured His young men,
And His bereaved ^(C2)virgins had no wedding songs.

⁶⁴ His ^(C1)priests Hophni and Phinehas fell by the sword,
And His ^(C2)widows could not weep. ^(VR1)

⁶⁵ Then the Lord ^(C1)awakened as from sleep,
Like a ^(C2)mighty warrior who awakens from the sleep of wine fully conscious of his power.

⁶⁶ He ^(C1)drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.

⁶⁷ Moreover, He ^(C1)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim in which the tabernacle stood.

⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah as Israel's leader,
Mount ^(C1)Zion, which He loved to replace Shiloh as His capital.

⁶⁹ And He ^(C1)built His sanctuary exalted like the heights of the heavens,
Like the earth which He has established forever.

⁷⁰ He also ^(C1)chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds; ^(VR1)

^71 (F1)From ^(F2)(C1)tending the ewes with ^(C2)nursing young He brought him
To ^(C3)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel ^(C4)His inheritance. ^(VR1)

⁷² So David shepherded them according to the ^(C1)integrity of his heart;
And guided them with his skillful hands.