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, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful 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 which should be born; who should arise and declare 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 forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed 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 divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

14 I n the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

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

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

17 A nd they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

18 A nd they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

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

20 B ehold, 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 T herefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

22 B ecause they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

23 T hough he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24 A nd had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

25 M an did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

26 H e caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27 H e rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

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: for he gave them their own desire;

30 T hey were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

31 T he wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32 F or all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

33 T herefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34 W hen he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

35 A nd they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

36 N evertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

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

38 B ut 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 F or he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 H ow oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41 Y ea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

42 T hey remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

43 H ow he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

44 A nd had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

45 H e sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 H e gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

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

48 H e gave up 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, by sending evil angels among them.

50 H e made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51 A nd smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52 B ut made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 A nd he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

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

55 H e 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 Y et they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

57 B ut turned back, and dealt unfaithfully 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 enemy's hand.

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

63 T he fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

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, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 A nd he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 M oreover he refused the tabernacle 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 high palaces, 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 great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 S o he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.