[001] Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
[002] I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
[003] Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
[004] 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.
[005] 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:
[006] That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
[007] That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
[008] 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.
[009] The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
[010] They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
[011] And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
[012] Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
[013] He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
[014] In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
[015] He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
[016] He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
[017] And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
[018] And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
[019] Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
[020] 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?
[021] Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
[022] Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
[023] Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
[024] And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
[025] Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.
[026] He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
[027] He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
[028] And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
[029] So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
[030] They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
[031] The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
[032] For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
[033] Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
[034] When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
[035] And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
[036] Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
[037] For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
[038] 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.
[039] For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
[040] How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
[041] Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
[042] They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
[043] How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
[044] And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
[045] He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
[046] He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.
[047] He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.
[048] He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
[049] He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
[050] He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
[051] And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
[052] But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
[053] And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
[054] And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
[055] 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.
[056] Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
[057] But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
[058] For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
[059] When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
[060] So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
[061] And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
[062] He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
[063] The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
[064] Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
[065] Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
[066] And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
[067] Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
[068] But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
[069] And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
[070] He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
[071] From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
[072] So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.