1: (A contemplation by Asaph.) Hear my law, my people. Turn 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, Our fathers have told us. 4: We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, His strength, and his wondrous works that he has 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, even the children who should be born; Who should arise and tell 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 didn't make their hearts loyal, Whose spirit was not steadfast with God. 9: The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle. 10: They didn't keep the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law. 11: They forgot his doings, His wondrous works that he had shown them. 12: Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13: He split the sea, and caused them to pass through; He made the waters stand as a heap. 14: In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, All the night with a light of fire. 15: He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. 16: He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers. 17: Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. 18: They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire. 19: Yes, 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, Streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?" 21: Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also went up against Israel, 22: Because they didn't believe in God, And didn't trust in his salvation. 23: Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven. 24: He rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky. 25: Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full. 26: He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind. 27: He rained also flesh on them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas. 28: He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations. 29: So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire. 30: They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths, 31: When the anger of God went up against them, And killed some of the fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel. 32: For all this they still sinned, And didn't believe in his wondrous works. 33: Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror. 34: When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly. 35: They remembered that God was their rock, The Most High God their redeemer. 36: But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue. 37: For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant. 38: But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn't destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, And didn't stir up all his wrath. 39: He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and doesn't come again. 40: How often did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! 41: They turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. 42: They didn't remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary; 43: How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan, 44: Turned their rivers into blood, Their streams, so that they could not drink. 45: He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; Frogs, which destroyed them. 46: He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, Their labor to the locust. 47: He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost. 48: He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 49: He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil. 50: He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence, 51: And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. 52: But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53: He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54: He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken. 55: He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56: Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn't keep his testimonies; 57: But turned back, and dealt treacherously 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 engraved images. 59: When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel; 60: So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men; 61: And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand. 62: He also gave his people over to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance. 63: Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song. 64: Their priests fell by the sword; Their widows made no lamentation. 65: Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine. 66: He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. 67: Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim, 68: But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. 69: He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he has established forever. 70: He also chose David his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; 71: From following the ewes that have their young he brought him To be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. 72: So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
