Tell the Coming Generation
A Maskil of aAsaph.
bGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 aI will open my mouth bin a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our afathers have told us.
4 We will not ahide them from their children,
but btell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and cthe wonders that he has done.
5 He established aa testimony in bJacob
and appointed a law in bIsrael,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that athe 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 athe works of God,
but bkeep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be alike their fathers,
ba stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation cwhose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
aturned back on the day of battle.
10 They adid not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They aforgot his works
and bthe wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers ahe performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in bthe fields of Zoan.
13 He adivided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters bstand like a heap.
14 aIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He asplit rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of athe rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
arebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They atested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
a“Can God bspread a table in the wilderness?
20 aHe 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;
aa fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they adid not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and aopened the doors of heaven,
24 and he arained down on them manna to eat
and gave them bthe grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of athe angels;
he sent them food bin abundance.
26 He acaused 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 adust,
winged birds like bthe sand of the seas;
28 he alet them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they aate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they bcraved.
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 athe strongest of them
and laid low bthe young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they astill sinned;
bdespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made atheir days bvanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they asought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their arock,
the Most High God their bredeemer.
36 But they aflattered him with their mouths;
they blied to him with their tongues.
37 Their aheart was not bsteadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being acompassionate,
batoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He aremembered that they were but bflesh,
ca wind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they arebelled against him in the wilderness
and bgrieved him in cthe desert!
41 They atested God again and again
and provoked bthe Holy One of Israel.
42 They adid not remember his power
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 awhen he performed his bsigns in Egypt
and his cmarvels in dthe fields of Zoan.
44 He aturned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of aflies, which devoured them,
and bfrogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to athe destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with ahail
and their sycamores with frost.
48 He gave over their acattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of adestroying 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 afirstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of bHam.
52 Then he led out his people alike sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 aHe led them in safety, so that they bwere not afraid,
but cthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to his aholy land,
bto the mountain which his right hand had cwon.
55 He adrove out nations before them;
he bapportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they atested and brebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like aa deceitful bow.
58 For they aprovoked him to anger with their bhigh places;
they cmoved him to jealousy with their didols.
59 When God heard, he was full of awrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60 He aforsook his dwelling at bShiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his apower to captivity,
his bglory to the hand of the foe.
62 He agave his people over to the sword
and bvented his wrath on his heritage.
63 aFire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no bmarriage song.
64 Their apriests fell by the sword,
and their bwidows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord aawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he aput his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of aJoseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he aloves.
69 He abuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He achose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from afollowing the nursing ewes he brought him
to bshepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his cinheritance.
72 With aupright heart he shepherded them
and bguided them with his skillful hand.