¹ Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O 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, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath 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 hope 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 that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast 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 forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.¹² Marvellous 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 an heap.¹⁴ In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.¹⁵ He clave 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 heart by asking meat for their lust.¹⁹ Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?²⁰ Behold, he smote 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 the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;²² Because they believed not 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, round about their habitations.²⁹ So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;³⁰ They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,³¹ The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.³² For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.³³ Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, 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 unto him with their tongues.³⁷ For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.³⁸ But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.³⁹ For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.⁴⁰ How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!⁴¹ Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.⁴² They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered 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 divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.⁴⁶ He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto 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 spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;⁵¹ And smote 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 graven images.⁵⁹ When God heard this, he was wroth, 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 unto the sword; and was wroth 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 shouteth by reason of wine.⁶⁶ And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.⁶⁷ Moreover 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 hath established for ever.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 heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.