Maschil of Asaph .
1 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 enquired 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 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 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 .