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¹ Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings of my mouth;² I will open, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; - ³ Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to us;⁴ We will not withhold them from their children, To a later generation, recounting the praises of Yahweh, Even his might and his wonders which he wrought;⁵ When he set up a testimony in Jacob, And, a law, appointed in Israel, - Which he commanded our fathers, That they might make them known to their children;⁶ To the end, A later generation, might come m know, Children who should be born, Who should arise, and recount them to their children;⁷ That they might set, in Elohim, their confidence, - And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;⁸ And not become, like their fathers, a generation stubborn and rebellious, - A generation that fixed not their heart, Neither was their spirit, faithful with GOD.

⁹ The sons of Ephraim - armed bowmen, Turned in the day of battle;¹⁰ They kept not the covenant of God, And, in his law, refused to walk;¹¹ And forgat His doings, And his wonders which he had showed them:¹² In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, - In the land of Egypt - the field of Zoan:¹³ He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;¹⁴ And led them, by a cloud, in the daytime, And all the night, by a light of fire;¹⁵ He used to cleave rocks in the desert, And let them drink as out of mighty deeps;¹⁶ And he brought forth streams out of the cliff, And caused waters to flow down, like rivers.¹⁷ But again, once more sinned they against him, Resisting the Most High in a land of drought:¹⁸ They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:¹⁹ Yea they spake against Elohim, - They said, Can GOD prepare a table in the desert?²⁰ Lo! he hath smitten a rock, And waters, have gushed out, Yea, torrents, have rushed along, - Food also, can he give? Or provide flesh for his people?²¹ Therefore, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, - And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted against Israel;²² Because, They believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;²³ Though he had commanded the skies above, And, the doors of the heavens, had opened;²⁴ And had rained on them manna to eat, And, the corn of the heavens, had given to them:²⁵ The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;²⁶ He let loose an east wind in the heavens, Then guided he, in his might, a south wind;²⁷ And rained upon them flesh as the dust, And, like the sand of the seas, birds of wing;²⁸ And let them fall in the midst of their camp, - Round about their habitations.²⁹ So they did eat and were abundantly filled, When, what they longed for, he had brought them: - ³⁰ They had not turned away from what they had longed for, Yet was their food in their mouth,³¹ When, the anger of God, mounted against them, And he slew of their vigorous youths, And, the choice young men of Israel, caused he to bow down in death.³² For all this, sinned they still, And believed not in his wonders;³³ So he ended, in a breath, their days, And their years, in a sudden terror!³⁴ If he slew of them, then they sought him, Yea they turned, and did earnestly seek GOD;³⁵ And remembered that, Elohim, was their rock, Yea, EL Most High, their Redeemer:³⁶ So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;³⁷ But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty in his covenant:³⁸ Yet, he, full of compassion, would put a propitiatory-covering over iniquity, and not destroy, - Yea, many a time, turned he back his anger, And would not stir up all his wrath.³⁹ So then he remembered, That, Flesh, they were, A Wind departing, that returneth not.

⁴⁰ How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:⁴¹ Yea they again put GOD to the test, And, to the Holy One of Israel, caused they sorrow:⁴² They remembered not his hand - The day, When he ransomed them from the adversary;⁴³ When he set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;⁴⁴ When he turned, into blood, their Nile-streams, And, their own rivers, could they not drink;⁴⁵ He sent among them, The gad-fly, and it devoured them, And the frog, and it despoiled them;⁴⁶ When he gave to the corn-locust their produce, And their toil, to the swarming locust;⁴⁷ He killed, with hail, their vine, And their sycomores, with frost:⁴⁸ When he gave up, to hail-storms, their beasts, And their cattle, to pestilent fevers;⁴⁹ He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, - A mission of messengers of misfortune:⁵⁰ He leveled a path for his anger, Withheld not, from death, their soul, But, their life - to the pestilence, he delivered:⁵¹ So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, in the tents of Ham;⁵² And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;⁵³ Yea he led them securely, and they dreaded not, And, their enemies, the sea did cover.⁵⁴ Then brought he them within his own holy bounds, The mountain-range, which his right hand made his own:⁵⁵ So he drave out, before them, whole nations, And allotted them, by line, an inheritance, And caused to dwell, in their own homes, the tribes of Israel.⁵⁶ But they tested and resisted God Most High, And, his testimonies, did not observe;⁵⁷ But drew back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers, They turned aside, like deceitful bowmen;⁵⁸ And provoked him to anger with their high places, And, with their images, used to move him to jealousy.⁵⁹ God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;⁶⁰ So he gave up the habitation of Shiloh, The tent he had set up among Men;⁶¹ Yea he gave up, into captivity, his strength, And his beauty into the hand of an adversary;⁶² And delivered up, to the sword, his people, And, with his own inheritance, was he wroth;⁶³ His young men, were devoured by fire, And, his virgins, were not praised in song;⁶⁴ His priests, by the sword, did fall, And, his widows, were not able to bewail.⁶⁵ Then awoke, as one that had slept, Adonay, As a warrior exulting with wine!⁶⁶ So he smote his adversaries in the rear, Reproach age-abiding, laid he upon them.⁶⁷ Howbeit he rejected the tent of Joseph, And, the tribe of Ephraim, did not choose:⁶⁸ But made choice of the tribe of Judah, The mountain of Zion, which he loved;⁶⁹ And built, like the heights, his sanctuary, Like the earth, he founded it to times age-abiding.⁷⁰ And made choice of David his servant, And took him from among the folds of the sheep:⁷¹ From after the sucking ewes, he brought him in, - To be shepherd to Jacob his people, And to Israel, his inheritance.⁷² So he did shepherd them, according to the singleness of his heart, And, with the discernment of his hands, used he to guide them.