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 oppressor's 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.