Read the Bible

¹ Pay attention, my people, to my instruction!
Listen to the words I speak!
² I will sing a song that imparts wisdom;
I will make insightful observations about the past.
³ What we have heard and learned—
that which our ancestors have told us—
⁴ we will not hide from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation
about the Lord's praiseworthy acts,
about his strength and the amazing things he has done.
⁵ He established a rule in Jacob;
he set up a law in Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to make his deeds known to their descendants,
⁶ so that the next generation, children yet to be born,
might know about them.
They will grow up and tell their descendants about them.
⁷ Then they will place their confidence in God.
They will not forget the works of God,
and they will obey his commands.
⁸ Then they will not be like their ancestors,
who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that was not committed
and faithful to God.
⁹ The Ephraimites were armed with bows,
but they retreated in the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep their covenant with God,
and they refused to obey his law.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done,
the amazing things he had shown them.
¹² He did amazing things in the sight of their ancestors,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and led them across it;
he made the water stand in a heap.
¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day,
and with the light of a fire all night long.
¹⁵ He broke open rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea.
¹⁶ He caused streams to flow from the rock,
and made the water flow like rivers.
¹⁷ Yet they continued to sin against him,
and rebelled against the sovereign One in the desert.
¹⁸ They willfully challenged God
by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.
¹⁹ They insulted God, saying,
"Is God really able to give us food in the wilderness?
²⁰ Yes, he struck a rock and water flowed out,
streams gushed forth.
But can he also give us food?
Will he provide meat for his people?"
²¹ When the Lord heard this, he was furious.
A fire broke out against Jacob,
and his anger flared up against Israel,
²² because they did not have faith in God,
and did not trust his ability to deliver them.
²³ He gave a command to the clouds above,
and opened the doors in the sky.
²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat;
he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Man ate the food of the mighty ones.
He sent them more than enough to eat.
²⁶ He brought the east wind through the sky,
and by his strength led forth the south wind.
²⁷ He rained down meat on them like dust,
birds as numerous as the sand on the seashores.
²⁸ He caused them to fall right in the middle of their camp,
all around their homes.
²⁹ They ate until they were stuffed;
he gave them what they desired.
³⁰ They were not yet filled up,
their food was still in their mouths,
³¹ when the anger of God flared up against them.
He killed some of the strongest of them;
he brought the young men of Israel to their knees.
³² Despite all this, they continued to sin,
and did not trust him to do amazing things.
³³ So he caused them to die unsatisfied
and filled with terror.
³⁴ When he struck them down, they sought his favor;
they turned back and longed for God.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their protector,
and that the sovereign God was their deliverer.
³⁶ But they deceived him with their words,
and lied to him.
³⁷ They were not really committed to him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury.
³⁹ He remembered that they were made of flesh,
and were like a wind that blows past and does not return.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
and insulted him in the desert!
⁴¹ They again challenged God,
and offended the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember what he had done,
how he delivered them from the enemy,
⁴³ when he performed his awesome deeds in Egypt,
and his acts of judgment in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of biting insects against them,
as well as frogs that overran their land.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.
⁴⁸ He rained hail down on their cattle,
and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.
⁴⁹ His raging anger lashed out against them,
He sent fury, rage, and trouble
as messengers who bring disaster.
⁵⁰ He sent his anger in full force;
he did not spare them from death;
he handed their lives over to destruction.
⁵¹ He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham.
⁵² Yet he brought out his people like sheep;
he led them through the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ He guided them safely along,
while the sea covered their enemies.
⁵⁴ He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountainous land which his right hand acquired.
⁵⁵ He drove the nations out from before them;
he assigned them their tribal allotments
and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.
⁵⁶ Yet they challenged and defied the sovereign God,
and did not obey his commands.
⁵⁷ They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors;
they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.
⁵⁸ They made him angry with their pagan shrines,
and made him jealous with their idols.
⁵⁹ God heard and was angry;
he completely rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh,
the tent where he lived among men.
⁶¹ He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured;
he gave the symbol of his splendor into the hand of the enemy.
⁶² He delivered his people over to the sword,
and was angry with his chosen nation.
⁶³ Fire consumed their young men,
and their virgins remained unmarried.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
but their widows did not weep.
⁶⁵ But then the Lord awoke from his sleep;
he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.
⁶⁶ He drove his enemies back;
he made them a permanent target for insults.
⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
⁶⁸ He chose the tribe of Judah,
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above;
as secure as the earth, which he established permanently.
⁷⁰ He chose David, his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds.
⁷¹ He took him away from following the mother sheep,
and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and of Israel, his chosen nation.
⁷² David cared for them with pure motives;
he led them with skill.