Tell the Coming Generation

78 A Maskil1 of hAsaph.

1  iGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2  jI will open my mouth kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3  things that we have heard and known,

that our lfathers have told us.

4  We will not mhide them from their children,

but ntell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and othe wonders that he has done.

5  He established pa testimony in qJacob

and appointed a law in qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6  that rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7  so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget sthe works of God,

but tkeep his commandments;

8  and that they should not be ulike their fathers,

va stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation wwhose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9  The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,

xturned back on the day of battle.

10  They ydid not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11  They zforgot his works

and athe wonders that he had shown them.

12  In the sight of their fathers bhe performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in cthe fields of Zoan.

13  He ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters estand like a heap.

14  fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

15  He gsplit rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16  He made streams come out of hthe rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17  Yet they sinned still more against him,

irebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18  They jtested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

19  They spoke against God, saying,

k“Can God lspread a table in the wilderness?

20  mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?”

21  Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;

na fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

22  because they odid not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

23  Yet he commanded the skies above

and popened the doors of heaven,

24  and he qrained down on them manna to eat

and gave them rthe grain of heaven.

25  Man ate of the bread of sthe angels;

he sent them food tin abundance.

26  He ucaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by his power he led out the south wind;

27  he rained meat on them like vdust,

winged birds like wthe sand of the seas;

28  he xlet them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

29  And they yate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they zcraved.

30  But before they had satisfied their craving,

awhile the food was still in their mouths,

31  the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed bthe strongest of them

and laid low cthe young men of Israel.

32  In spite of all this, they dstill sinned;

edespite his wonders, they did not believe.

33  So he made ftheir days gvanish like3 a breath,4

and their years in terror.

34  When he killed them, they hsought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35  They remembered that God was their irock,

the Most High God their jredeemer.

36  But they kflattered him with their mouths;

they llied to him with their tongues.

37  Their mheart was not nsteadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38  Yet he, being ocompassionate,

patoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39  He qremembered that they were but rflesh,

sa wind that passes and comes not again.

40  How often they trebelled against him in the wilderness

and ugrieved him in vthe desert!

41  They wtested God again and again

and provoked xthe Holy One of Israel.

42  They ydid not remember his power5

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43  zwhen he performed his asigns in Egypt

and his bmarvels in cthe fields of Zoan.

44  He dturned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45  He sent among them swarms of eflies, which devoured them,

and ffrogs, which destroyed them.

46  He gave their crops to gthe destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47  He destroyed their vines with hhail

and their sycamores with frost.

48  He gave over their icattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49  He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of jdestroying angels.

50  He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

51  He struck down every kfirstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of lHam.

52  Then he led out his people mlike sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53  nHe led them in safety, so that they owere not afraid,

but pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54  And he brought them to his qholy land,

rto the mountain which his right hand had swon.

55  He tdrove out nations before them;

he uapportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56  Yet they vtested and wrebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

57  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like xa deceitful bow.

58  For they yprovoked him to anger with their zhigh places;

they amoved him to jealousy with their bidols.

59  When God heard, he was full of cwrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

60  He dforsook his dwelling at eShiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61  and delivered his fpower to captivity,

his gglory to the hand of the foe.

62  He hgave his people over to the sword

and ivented his wrath on his heritage.

63  jFire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no kmarriage song.

64  Their lpriests fell by the sword,

and their mwidows made no lamentation.

65  Then the Lord nawoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66  And he oput his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67  He rejected the tent of pJoseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68  but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he qloves.

69  He rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70  He schose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71  from tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him

to ushepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his vinheritance.

72  With wupright heart he shepherded them

and xguided them with his skillful hand.