Read the Bible

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 parables; I will utter proverbs of old.³ That which we have heard and known, and which our fathers have told us,⁴ We will not hide from their children, showing to the generation to come the praise of the LORD and his strength and the 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 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 throwing forth bows, turned back in the day of battle.¹⁰ For 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 shown them in the sight of their fathers.¹² Marvellous things did he in the land of Egypt and in the fields of Zoan.¹³ He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as in skins.¹⁴ In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.¹⁵ He cleaved the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of great depths.¹⁶ He brought forth streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.¹⁷ But the people continued to sin, and to murmur against the most High in their thirst for water.¹⁸ And they tempted God in their hearts by asking food to satisfy their desires.¹⁹ Yea, they complained against God; they said, Can God furnish tables of food 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 food for his people?²¹ Therefore the LORD heard this and was angered; 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 for them to eat and had given them of the bread of heaven.²⁵ Man did eat angels food; he sent them game in abundance.²⁶ He caused winds to blow in the skies; and by his power he brought in the south wind.²⁷ He rained flesh also upon them like dust, and feathered fowls like the sands of the sea:²⁸ And he let these fall in the midst of their camp, round about their tents.²⁹ So they did eat and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire.³⁰ They relinquished not their craving. But while their food was yet in their mouths,³¹ The anger of God came upon them and slew the richest of them, and made to bow the chosen men of Israel.³² Nevertheless they sinned still, and believed not in his wondrous works.³³ Wherefore their days were spent in emptiness, and their years in impatience.³⁴ When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and drew nearer to him.³⁵ And they remembered that God was their helper, and the high God their Saviour.³⁶ Nevertheless they loved him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues.³⁷ For their hearts were not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.³⁸ He is merciful, the forgiver of sins, and destroys not; yea, 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 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and defied the Holy One of Israel.⁴² They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,⁴³ How he had wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan,⁴⁴ Nor how he had turned their rivers into blood and their brooks, that they could not drink.⁴⁵ He sent swarms of insects among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.⁴⁶ He gave also their crops to the locusts, and their labor to the caterpillars.⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail and their fig trees with frost.⁴⁸ He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to destruction.⁴⁹ He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by the hand of an evil angel.⁵⁰ He resorted to strong measures; he spared not their souls from death, and gave their cattle over to the pestilence;⁵¹ And smote all the first-born in Egypt, the fairest of their sons in the tabernacles of Ham;⁵² But he led forth his own people 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 possessed.⁵⁵ He cast out the Gentiles from before them, and allotted them an inheritance by measure, 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 deceitfully like their fathers; they were crooked like a twisted bow.⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger by sacrificing on high places, and made him indignant 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 he delivered his people into captivity, and his glory into the oppressors hand.⁶² He delivered his people to the sword, and disregarded his inheritance.⁶³ The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were violated.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 who has shaken off the effects of wine.⁶⁶ And he caused his enemies to retreat; 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, mount Zion which he loved.⁶⁹ And he built his sanctuary on a high place, and he established it upon the earth for ever.⁷⁰ He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;⁷¹ From following the ewes that give suck, he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance.⁷² So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.