Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil1 of hAsaph.

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

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

²jI will open my mouth kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

³things that we have heard and known,

that our lfathers have told us.

⁴We 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.

⁵He established pa testimony in qJacob

and appointed a law in qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

⁶that rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

⁷so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget sthe works of God,

but tkeep his commandments;

⁸and 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.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,

xturned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They ydid not keep God's covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

¹¹They zforgot his works

and athe wonders that he had shown them.

¹²In the sight of their fathers bhe performed wonders

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

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

and made the waters estand like a heap.

¹⁴fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

¹⁵He gsplit rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

¹⁶He made streams come out of hthe rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they sinned still more against him,

irebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They jtested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,

k“Can God lspread a table in the wilderness?

²⁰mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?”

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

na fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

²²because they odid not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

²³Yet he commanded the skies above

and popened the doors of heaven,

²⁴and he qrained down on them manna to eat

and gave them rthe grain of heaven.

²⁵Man ate of the bread of sthe angels;

he sent them food tin abundance.

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

and by his power he led out the south wind;

²⁷he rained meat on them like vdust,

winged birds like wthe sand of the seas;

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

all around their dwellings.

²⁹And they yate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they zcraved.

³⁰But before they had satisfied their craving,

awhile the food was still in their mouths,

³¹the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed bthe strongest of them

and laid low cthe young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they dstill sinned;

edespite his wonders, they did not believe.

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

and their years in terror.

³⁴When he killed them, they hsought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

³⁵They remembered that God was their irock,

the Most High God their jredeemer.

³⁶But they kflattered him with their mouths;

they llied to him with their tongues.

³⁷Their mheart was not nsteadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

³⁸Yet 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.

³⁹He qremembered that they were but rflesh,

sa wind that passes and comes not again.

⁴⁰How often they trebelled against him in the wilderness

and ugrieved him in vthe desert!

⁴¹They wtested God again and again

and provoked xthe Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They ydid not remember his power5

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

⁴³zwhen he performed his asigns in Egypt

and his bmarvels in cthe fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴He dturned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

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

and ffrogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to gthe destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hhail

and their sycamores with frost.

⁴⁸He gave over their icattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of jdestroying angels.

⁵⁰He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

⁵¹He struck down every kfirstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of lHam.

⁵²Then he led out his people mlike sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

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

but pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴And he brought them to his qholy land,

rto the mountain which his right hand had swon.

⁵⁵He tdrove out nations before them;

he uapportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they vtested and wrebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

⁵⁷but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like xa deceitful bow.

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

they amoved him to jealousy with their bidols.

⁵⁹When God heard, he was full of cwrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

⁶⁰He dforsook his dwelling at eShiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

⁶¹and delivered his fpower to captivity,

his gglory to the hand of the foe.

⁶²He hgave his people over to the sword

and ivented his wrath on his heritage.

⁶³jFire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no kmarriage song.

⁶⁴Their lpriests fell by the sword,

and their mwidows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the Lord nawoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

⁶⁶And he oput his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of pJoseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he qloves.

⁶⁹He rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

⁷⁰He schose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him

to ushepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his vinheritance.

⁷²With wupright heart he shepherded them

and xguided them with his skillful hand.