Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles from of old,

Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have related to us.

We will not hide them from their children, But will relate to the generation to come The praises of Jehovah and His strength And His wondrous deeds that He has done.

Indeed He has 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;

That the generation to come, The children to be born, may know them, Who should arise and relate them to their children;

That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments;

That they might not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set their heart right, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

The children of Ephraim, armed archers with bows, Turned back in the day of battle.

They did not keep the covenant of God, And they refused to walk in His law.

And they forgot His doings And His wondrous deeds that He had shown them.

He did something wonderful in the sight of their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the water stand as a heap.

And He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire.

He split rocks in the wilderness And gave them abundant drink, as from the depths.

He also brought forth streams from the rock And made water run down like rivers.

Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

And they put God to the test in their heart, By asking for food according to their desire.

They also spoke against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

Behold, He struck the rock, And water gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can He also give us bread, Or provide meat for His people?

Therefore Jehovah heard and was angry. And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And also anger went up against Israel;

Because they did not believe in God, And they did not trust in His salvation.

Yet He commanded the skies above And opened the doors of heaven;

And He rained down upon them manna to eat And gave them the food of heaven.

Man ate the bread of the mighty; He sent them full provision.

He made the east wind blow in the heavens And guided the south wind by His strength.

And He rained upon them meat like dust, And winged birds like the sand of the seas.

And He made it fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations.

So they ate and were well filled; Indeed what they desired He brought to them.

They were not estranged from what they desired; Their food was still in their mouths

When the anger of God went up against them And slew some of their fattest ones And struck down the choice men of Israel.

In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wondrous deeds.

Therefore He consumed their days with vanity, And their years with terror.

When He slew them, they inquired after Him, And they returned and diligently sought God.

And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God, their Redeemer.

But they flattered Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue.

For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful to His covenant.

But He, being merciful, forgave their iniquity And did not destroy them; Indeed He turned back His anger many times And did not stir up all His wrath.

And He remembered that they were flesh, A wind that goes away and does not return.

How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!

And they repeatedly put God to the test And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember His hand, The day when He ransomed them from the adversary;

When He set His signs in Egypt And His wonders in the field of Zoan;

And He turned their rivers into blood, As well as their streams, so that they could not drink.

He sent among them a swarm offlies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.

And He gave their increase to the consuming locust, And their labor to the swarming locust.

And He killed their vines with hail, And their sycamores with ice stones.

He gave over their cattle also to the hail And their herds to the lightning bolts.

He sent among them the burning fierceness of His anger, Overflowing wrath and indignation and trouble, A mission of angels of evils.

He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence.

And He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The first of their vigor in the tents of Ham.

But He set forth His people like sheep And led them like a flock in the wilderness.

And He led them to safety, so that they did not fear; But the sea covered their enemies.

And He brought them forth to His holy border, The mountain, which His right hand had acquired.

And He drove out the nations before them And allotted them as an inheritance by line, And He made the tribes of Israel dwell there in their tents.

Yet they put Him to the test and rebelled against God the Most High, And did not keep His testimonies.

And they turned back and dealt treacherously, as their fathers had done; They turned aside like a deceitful bow.

Indeed they provoked Him to anger with their high places And made Him jealous with their graven images.

God heard, and He was angered; And He greatly abhorred Israel.

Thus He forsook the tabernacle in Shiloh, The tent in which He dwelt among men;

And He gave over His ark into captivity, And His glory into the hand of the adversary.

He also delivered His people to the sword And was angry with His inheritance.

Fire devoured their young men, And their virgins had no marriage song.

Their priests fell by the sword, And their widows did not lament.

Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.

And He struck His adversaries and sent them back; He put an everlasting reproach upon them.

And He rejected the tent of Joseph, And the tribe of Ephraim He did not choose.

Rather He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth that He has founded forever.

Moreover He chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds;

From following after the ewes He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people And Israel His inheritance.

And he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.