¹Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. ²I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, ³Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. ⁴We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. ⁵For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, ⁶That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children, ⁷That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments, ⁸And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God. ⁹The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰They did not keep the covenant of God And refused to walk in His law; ¹¹They forgot His deeds And His miracles that He had shown them. ¹²He wrought wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. ¹³He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap. ¹⁴Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire. ¹⁵He split the rocks in the wilderness And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. ¹⁶He brought forth streams also from the rock And caused waters to run down like rivers. ¹⁷Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. ¹⁸And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire. ¹⁹Then they spoke against God; They said, " Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰"Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?" ²¹Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, ²²Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation. ²³Yet He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven; ²⁴He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven. ²⁵Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. ²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens And by His power He directed the south wind. ²⁷When He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, ²⁸Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their dwellings. ²⁹So they ate and were well filled, And their desire He gave to them. ³⁰Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths, ³¹The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel. ³²In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works. ³³So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror. ³⁴When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; ³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. ³⁶But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. ³⁷For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant. ³⁸But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath. ³⁹Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return. ⁴⁰How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹Again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel. ⁴²They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³When He performed His signs in Egypt And His marvels in the field of Zoan, ⁴⁴And turned their rivers to blood, And their streams, they could not drink. ⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them. ⁴⁶He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hailstones And their sycamore trees with frost. ⁴⁸He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones And their herds to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury and indignation and trouble, A band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague, ⁵¹And smote all the firstborn in Egypt, The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham. ⁵²But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock; ⁵³He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea engulfed their enemies. ⁵⁴So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had gained. ⁵⁵He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. ⁵⁶Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies, ⁵⁷But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow. ⁵⁸For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images. ⁵⁹When God heard, He was filled with wrath And greatly abhorred Israel; ⁶⁰So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He had pitched among men, ⁶¹And gave up His strength to captivity And His glory into the hand of the adversary. ⁶²He also delivered His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance. ⁶³Fire devoured His young men, And His virgins had no wedding songs. ⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep. ⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine. ⁶⁶He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. ⁶⁷He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, ⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. ⁶⁹And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever. ⁷⁰He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds; ⁷¹From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. ⁷²So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands.

He also delivered His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance. Fire devoured His young men, And His virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep.