| 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 a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: |
| 3 | Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. |
| 4 | We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. |
| 5 | For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them 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 stedfast with God. |
| 9 | The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. |
| 10 | They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; |
| 11 | And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. |
| 12 | Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. |
| 13 | He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. |
| 14 | In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. |
| 15 | He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. |
| 16 | He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. |
| 17 | And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. |
| 18 | And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. |
| 19 | Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table 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 flesh for his people? |
| 21 | Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: 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 upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. |
| 25 | Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. |
| 26 | He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. |
| 27 | He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: |
| 28 | And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. |
| 29 | So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; |
| 30 | They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, |
| 31 | The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. |
| 32 | For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. |
| 33 | Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. |
| 34 | When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. |
| 35 | And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. |
| 36 | Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. |
| 37 | For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. |
| 38 | But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them 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 passeth away, and cometh 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 limited the Holy One of Israel. |
| 42 | They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. |
| 43 | How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan. |
| 44 | And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. |
| 45 | He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. |
| 46 | He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. |
| 47 | He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. |
| 48 | He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. |
| 49 | He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. |
| 50 | He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; |
| 51 | And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: |
| 52 | But made his own people to go forth 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 purchased. |
| 55 | He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, 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 unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. |
| 58 | For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy 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 delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. |
| 62 | He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. |
| 63 | The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. |
| 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 that shouteth by reason of wine. |
| 66 | And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: 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, the mount Zion which he loved. |
| 69 | And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. |
| 70 | He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: |
| 71 | From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. |
| 72 | So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
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