| 1 | Maschil of Asaph. Give 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 | Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. |
| 4 | We 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 | 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 [them], even the children that should be born; Who should arise and tell [them] to 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 set not their heart aright, And whose spirit was not stedfast with God. |
| 9 | The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle. |
| 10 | They kept not the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law; |
| 11 | And they forgat his doings, And his wondrous works that he had showed them. |
| 12 | Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. |
| 13 | He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap. |
| 14 | In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire. |
| 15 | He clave 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 went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. |
| 18 | And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire. |
| 19 | Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? |
| 20 | Behold, 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 | Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel; |
| 22 | Because they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation. |
| 23 | Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven; |
| 24 | And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven. |
| 25 | Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full. |
| 26 | He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind. |
| 27 | He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas: |
| 28 | And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations. |
| 29 | So they did eat, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire. |
| 30 | They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths, |
| 31 | When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel. |
| 32 | For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works. |
| 33 | Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror. |
| 34 | When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly. |
| 35 | And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer. |
| 36 | But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto 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 [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath. |
| 39 | And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. |
| 40 | How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! |
| 41 | And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. |
| 42 | They remember not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary; |
| 43 | How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan, |
| 44 | And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink. |
| 45 | He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them. |
| 46 | He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust. |
| 47 | He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycomore-trees with frost. |
| 48 | He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. |
| 49 | He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil. |
| 50 | He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence, |
| 51 | And smote all the first-born 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 | And he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. |
| 54 | And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten. |
| 55 | He 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 | Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And kept not 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 graven images. |
| 59 | When God heard [this], he was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel; |
| 60 | So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men; |
| 61 | And delivered his strength into captivity, And his glory into the adversary's hand. |
| 62 | He gave his people over also unto the sword, And was wroth with his inheritance. |
| 63 | Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song. |
| 64 | Their priests fell by the sword; And their widows made no lamentation. |
| 65 | Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. |
| 66 | And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach. |
| 67 | Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim, |
| 68 | But chose the tribe of Judah, The mount Zion which he loved. |
| 69 | And he built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he hath established for ever. |
| 70 | He chose David also 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 skilfulness of his hands. |