| 1 | 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 showed 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. Psalm 79 A Psalm by Asaph. |