1. "Maschil of Asaph." Give ear, O my people, to my law: turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will tell 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, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful 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 them, even the children which would be born; who would arise and declare them to their children:
7. That they might set their hope on 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 did not direct their heart rightly, and 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 did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11. And forgot his works, and his wonders that he had shown them.
12. He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as a heap.
14. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15. He opened the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17. And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
18. And they tempted God in their heart by asking food for their lust.
19. Yea, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20. Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
21. Therefore the LORD heard this, and was angry: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
22. Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation:
23. Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24. And had rained down manna on them to eat, and had given them of the grain of heaven.
25. Man ate angels' food: he sent them food to the full.
26. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered birds as the sand of the sea:
28. And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
29. So they ate, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
30. They were not turned away from their lust. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31. The anger of God came upon them, and killed the fattest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel.
32. For all this they sinned still, and did not believe because of his wondrous works.
33. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.
35. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
36. Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.
37. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
38. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them: yea, many times he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away, and comes not again.
40. How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42. They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
43. How he had performed his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
44. And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
45. He sent various sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46. He gave also their increase to the caterpiller, and their labor to the locust.
47. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
48. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49. He sent forth upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending angels of destruction among them.
50. He made a way for his anger; he did not 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 tabernacles of Ham:
52. But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53. And he led them on safely, so that they did not fear: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
55. 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.
56. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and did not keep his testimonies:
57. But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully 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 sculptured images.
59. When God heard this, he was angry, 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 enemy's hand.
62. He gave his people over also to the sword; and was angry with his inheritance.
63. The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given in marriage.
64. Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65. Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouts because of wine.
66. And he struck his enemies from behind: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
67. Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim:
68. But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
69. And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he has established for ever.
70. He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
71. From following the ewes large with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
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