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 YAHUAH, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath
done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in YisraYAH, 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 YAHUAH, and not forget the works of YAH, 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 YAHUAH.
9 ¶ The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in
the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of YAHUAH, 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 YAHUAH in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against YAHUAH; they said, Can YAH 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 YAHUAH heard [this], and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against
Jacob, and anger also came up against YisraYAH;
22 Because they believed not in YAHUAH, 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.
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 YAHUAH came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote
down the chosen [men] of YisraYAH.
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 enquired early
after YAH.
35 And they remembered that YAHUAH [was] their rock, and the high YAHUAH 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 YAH, and limited the Holy One of YisraYAH.
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 caterpiller, and their labour unto the
locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore 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 YisraYAH to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high YAHUAH, 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 YAHUAH heard [this], he was wroth, and greatly abhorred YisraYAH:
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 Sovereign YAHUAH 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 YisraYAH his inheritance.
72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by
the skilfulness of his hands.