Read the Bible

¹ Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings which have been from the beginning. ³ All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us. ⁴ They were not hid from their children to a second generations; the fathers declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought. ⁵ And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children: ⁶ that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children. ⁷ That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments. ⁸ That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.

⁹ The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰ They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law. ¹¹ And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he had shewed them; ¹² the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes. ¹³ He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle. ¹⁴ And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire. ¹⁵ he clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep. ¹⁶ And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers. ¹⁷ And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness. ¹⁸ And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls. ¹⁹ They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people? ²¹ Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel. ²² Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation. ²³ Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, ²⁴ and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven. ²⁵ Man ate angels’ bread; he sent them provision to the full. ²⁶ He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind. ²⁷ And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas. ²⁸ And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents. ²⁹ So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire. ³⁰ They were not disappointed of their desire: but when their food was yet in their mouth, ³¹ then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel. ³² In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles. ³³ And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety. ³⁴ When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer. ³⁶ Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. ³⁷ For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. ³⁸ But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy them: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger. ³⁹ And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

⁴⁰ How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and anger him in a dry land! ⁴¹ Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. ⁴³ How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes: ⁴⁴ and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink. ⁴⁵ He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them. ⁴⁶ And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust. ⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. ⁴⁸ And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire. ⁴⁹ He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels. ⁵⁰ He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death; ⁵¹ and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham. ⁵² And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness. ⁵³ And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies. ⁵⁴ And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased. ⁵⁵ And he cast out the nations from before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, 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 And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow. ⁵⁸ And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. ⁵⁹ God heard and lightly regarded them, and greatly despised Israel. ⁶⁰ And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men. ⁶¹ And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy’s hand. ⁶² And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance. ⁶³ Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not. ⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for. ⁶⁵ So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who has been heated with wine. ⁶⁶ And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach. ⁶⁷ And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; ⁶⁸ but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved. ⁶⁹ And he built his sanctuary as the place of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth. ⁷⁰ He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep. ⁷¹ He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. ⁷² So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.