1 My people, hear my teaching;j

listen to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth with a parable;k

I will utter hidden things, things from of old—

3 things we have heard and known,

things our ancestors have told us.l

4 We will not hide them from their descendants;m

we will tell the next generationn

the praiseworthy deedso of the Lord,

his power, and the wondersp he has done.

5 He decreed statutesq for Jacobr

and established the law in Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors

to teach their children,

6 so the next generation would know them,

even the children yet to be born,s

and they in turn would tell their children.

7 Then they would put their trust in God

and would not forgett his deeds

but would keep his commands.u

8 They would not be like their ancestorsv—

a stubbornw and rebelliousx generation,

whose hearts were not loyal to God,

whose spirits were not faithful to him.

9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,y

turned back on the day of battle;z

10 they did not keep God’s covenanta

and refused to live by his law.b

11 They forgot what he had done,c

the wonders he had shown them.

12 He did miraclesd in the sight of their ancestors

in the land of Egypt,e in the region of Zoan.f

13 He divided the seag and led them through;

he made the water stand up like a wall.h

14 He guided them with the cloud by day

and with light from the fire all night.i

15 He split the rocksj in the wilderness

and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag

and made water flow down like rivers.

17 But they continued to sink against him,

rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.

18 They willfully put God to the testl

by demanding the food they craved.m

19 They spoke against God;n

they said, “Can God really

spread a table in the wilderness?

20 True, he struck the rock,

and water gushed out,o

streams flowed abundantly,

but can he also give us bread?

Can he supply meatp for his people?”