1 G ive 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 W hich we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.

4 W e will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done.

5 F or 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 T hat the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born; Who should arise and tell them to their children,

7 T hat they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,

8 A nd 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 T he children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.

10 T hey kept not the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law;

11 A nd they forgat his doings, And his wondrous works that he had showed them.

12 M arvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 H e clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.

14 I n the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.

15 H e clave rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

16 H e brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Y et went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 A nd they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

19 Y ea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 B ehold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?

21 T herefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel;

22 B ecause they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation.

23 Y et he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven;

24 A nd he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.

25 M an did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.

26 H e caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind.

27 H e rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

28 A nd he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations.

29 S o they did eat, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire.

30 T hey were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths,

31 W hen the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel.

32 F or all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works.

33 T herefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror.

34 W hen he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly.

35 A nd they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer.

36 B ut they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue.

37 F or their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.

38 B ut he, being merciful, 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 A nd he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 H ow oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!

41 A nd they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 T hey remember not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

43 H ow he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44 A nd turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.

45 H e sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.

46 H e gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust.

47 H e destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycomore-trees with frost.

48 H e gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 H e cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil.

50 H e made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,

51 A nd smote all the first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 B ut he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 A nd he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 A nd he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten.

55 H e drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Y et they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And kept not his testimonies;

57 B ut turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58 F or they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 W hen God heard this, he was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 S o that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;

61 A nd delivered his strength into captivity, And his glory into the adversary's hand.

62 H e gave his people over also unto the sword, And was wroth with his inheritance.

63 F ire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song.

64 T heir priests fell by the sword; And their widows made no lamentation.

65 T hen the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 A nd he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 M oreover he refused the tent of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,

68 B ut chose the tribe of Judah, The mount Zion which he loved.

69 A nd he built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70 H e chose David also his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds:

71 F rom following the ewes that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 S o he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.