Maschil of Asaph. 1 Give ear, Oh my people, to my law: incline 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, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, 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 should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their confidence 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 who won't establish and set their mind, 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 kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgot his works, and his wonders 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 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 split 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 mind by asking meat for their inner selves, their minds..
19 Yes, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20 he struck the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore Jehovah 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 trusted not in his salvation:
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat 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 fowls like as the sand of the sea:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, on every side of their habitations.
29 So they ate and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
30 They were no strangers to their desire. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and did not believe for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vapor, 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 did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongues.
37 For their mind was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant.
38 But He, being full of compassion, covered their iniquity, and didn't destroy them: yes, many a time 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 Yes, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not His Hand, Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy.
43 How He had wrought 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 caterpillar, 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 cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
50 He made a way to His anger; He didn't spare them 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 feared not: 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 kept not 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 idols.
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 to marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouts by reason of wine.
66 And he struck his enemies in the hinder parts: He payed them wages of a condition of shame through the Kingdom Age.
67 He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not 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 through the Kingdom Age.
70 He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
71 From following the ewes great 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 Mind; and guided them by the skillfulness of His Hands.