2I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter proverbs of old.

3That which we have heard and known, and which our fathers have told us,

4We will not hide from their children, showing to the generation to come the praise of the LORD and his strength and the wonderful works that he has done.

5For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make known to their children,

6That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children;

7That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

8And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

9The children of Ephraim, being armed and throwing forth bows, turned back in the day of battle.

10For they kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

11And forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them in the sight of their fathers.

12Marvellous things did he in the land of Egypt and in the fields of Zoan.

13He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as in skins.

14In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

15He cleaved the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of great depths.

16He brought forth streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17But the people continued to sin, and to murmur against the most High in their thirst for water.

18And they tempted God in their hearts by asking food to satisfy their desires.

19Yea, they complained against God; they said, Can God furnish tables of food in the wilderness?

20Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide food for his people?

21Therefore the LORD heard this and was angered; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel,

22Because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation:

23Though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven,

24And had rained down manna for them to eat and had given them of the bread of heaven.

25Man did eat angels' food; he sent them game in abundance.

26He caused winds to blow in the skies; and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27He rained flesh also upon them like dust, and feathered fowls like the sands of the sea:

28And he let these fall in the midst of their camp, round about their tents.

29So they did eat and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire.

30They relinquished not their craving. But while their food was yet in their mouths,

31The anger of God came upon them and slew the richest of them, and made to bow the chosen men of Israel.

32Nevertheless they sinned still, and believed not in his wondrous works.

33Wherefore their days were spent in emptiness, and their years in impatience.

34When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and drew nearer to him.

35And they remembered that God was their helper, and the high God their Saviour.

36Nevertheless they loved him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues.

37For their hearts were not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38He is merciful, the forgiver of sins, and destroys not; yea, many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath.

39For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away and comes not again.

40How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and defied the Holy One of Israel.

42They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,

43How he had wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44Nor how he had turned their rivers into blood and their brooks, that they could not drink.

45He sent swarms of insects among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

46He gave also their crops to the locusts, and their labor to the caterpillars.

47He destroyed their vines with hail and their fig trees with frost.

48He gave up their cattle also to the hail and their flocks to destruction.

49He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by the hand of an evil angel.

50He resorted to strong measures; he spared not their souls from death, and gave their cattle over to the pestilence;

51And smote all the first-born in Egypt, the fairest of their sons in the tabernacles of Ham;

52But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53And he led them on safely so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had possessed.

55He cast out the Gentiles from before them, and allotted them an inheritance by measure, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56Yet they tempted and provoked the most High God, and kept not his testimonies;

57But turned back and dealt deceitfully like their fathers; they were crooked like a twisted bow.

58For they provoked him to anger by sacrificing on high places, and made him indignant with their graven images.

59When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel,

60So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61And he delivered his people into captivity, and his glory into the oppressor's hand.

62He delivered his people to the sword, and disregarded his inheritance.

63The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were violated.

64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep and like a mighty man who has shaken off the effects of wine.

66And he caused his enemies to retreat; he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

68But chose the tribe of Judah, mount Zion which he loved.

69And he built his sanctuary on a high place, and he established it upon the earth for ever.

70He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

71From following the ewes that give suck, he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance.

72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.