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¹ A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!² I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,³ things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children;⁶ that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,⁷ so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The E'phraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.¹⁰ They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.¹¹ They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them.¹² In the sight of their fathers he wrought marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zo'an.¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.¹⁵ He cleft rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers.¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.¹⁸ They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?²⁰ He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?"²¹ Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel;²² because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.²³ Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;²⁴ and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.²⁵ Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;²⁷ he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;²⁸ he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations.²⁹ And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.³⁰ But before they had sated their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,³¹ the anger of God rose against them and he slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel.³² In spite of all this they still sinned; despite his wonders they did not believe.³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.³⁴ When he slew them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant.³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath.³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!⁴¹ They tested him again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.⁴² They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;⁴³ when he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zo'an.⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.⁴⁹ He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.⁵¹ He smote all the first-born in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.⁵² Then he led forth his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.⁵³ He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.⁵⁴ And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.⁵⁶ Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe his testimonies,⁵⁷ but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their graven images.⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.⁶⁰ He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among men,⁶¹ and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.⁶² He gave his people over to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage.⁶³ Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage song.⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.⁶⁶ And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of E'phraim;⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded for ever.⁷⁰ He chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;⁷¹ from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance.⁷² With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skilful hand.