Holman Christian Standard Bible

New Living Translation

1A Maskil of Asaph. My people, hear my instruction; listen to what I say.

1O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,

2I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past--

2for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—

3things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us.

3stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.

4We must not hide them from their children, but must tell a future generation the praises of the LORD, His might, and the wonderful works He has performed.

4We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders.

5He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children

5For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,

6so that a future generation-- children yet to be born--might know. They were to rise and tell their children

6so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children.

7so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God's works, but keep His commands.

7So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.

8Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

8Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.

9The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle.

9The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.

10They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law.

10They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.

11They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them.

11They forgot what he had done— the great wonders he had shown them,

12He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan.

12the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

13He split the sea and brought them across; the water stood firm like a wall.

13For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!

14He led them with a cloud by day and with a fiery light throughout the night.

14In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.

15He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.

15He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.

16He brought streams out of the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

16He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!

17But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

17Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18They deliberately tested God, demanding the food they craved.

18They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.

19They spoke against God, saying," Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

19They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.

20Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out; torrents overflowed. But can He also provide bread or furnish meat for His people?"

20Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”

21Therefore, the LORD heard and became furious; then fire broke out against Jacob, and anger flared up against Israel

21When the LORD heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,

22because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

22for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.

23He gave a command to the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.

23But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.

24He rained manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

24He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.

25People ate the bread of angels. He sent them an abundant supply of food.

25They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.

26He made the east wind blow in the skies and drove the south wind by His might.

26He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.

27He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas.

27He rained down meat as thick as dust— birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!

28He made them fall in His camp, all around His tent.

28He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.

29They ate and were completely satisfied, for He gave them what they craved.

29The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.

30Before they had satisfied their desire, while the food was still in their mouths,

30But before they satisfied their craving, while the meat was yet in their mouths,

31God's anger flared up against them, and He killed some of their best men. He struck down Israel's choice young men.

31the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

32Despite all this, they kept sinning and did not believe His wonderful works.

32But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.

33He made their days end in futility, their years in sudden disaster.

33So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.

34When He killed some of them, the rest began to seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

34When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.

35They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their Redeemer.

35Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.

36But they deceived Him with their mouths, they lied to Him with their tongues,

36But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.

37their hearts were insincere toward Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

37Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.

38Yet He was compassionate; He atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them. He often turned His anger aside and did not unleash all His wrath.

38Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury!

39He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

39For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

40How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert.

40Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.

41They constantly tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

41Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42They did not remember His power shown on the day He redeemed them from the foe,

42They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.

43when He performed His miraculous signs in Egypt and His wonders in the region of Zoan.

43They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.

44He turned their rivers into blood, and they could not drink from their streams.

44For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.

45He sent among them swarms of flies, which fed on them, and frogs, which devastated them.

45He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.

46He gave their crops to the caterpillar and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

46He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.

47He killed their vines with hail and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.

47He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.

48He handed over their livestock to hail and their cattle to lightning bolts.

48He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49He sent His burning anger against them: fury, indignation, and calamity-- a band of deadly messengers.

49He loosed on them his fierce anger— all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.

50He cleared a path for His anger. He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.

50He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.

51He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first progeny of the tents of Ham.

51He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.

52He led His people out like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

52But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.

53He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.

53He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.

54He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand acquired.

54He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.

55He drove out nations before them. He apportioned their inheritance by lot and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

55He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

56But they rebelliously tested the Most High God, for they did not keep His decrees.

56But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.

57They treacherously turned away like their fathers; they became warped like a faulty bow.

57They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.

58They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their carved images.

58They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.

59God heard and became furious; He completely rejected Israel.

59When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.

60He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where He resided among men.

60Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.

61He gave up His strength to captivity and His splendor to the hand of a foe.

61He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.

62He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged with His heritage.

62He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.

63Fire consumed His chosen young men, and His young women had no wedding songs.

63Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.

64His priests fell by the sword, but the widows could not lament.

64Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.

65Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior from the effects of wine.

65Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.

66He beat back His foes; He gave them lasting shame.

66He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.

67He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

67But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

68He chose instead the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

68He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.

69He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that He established forever.

69There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.

70He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

70He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.

71He brought him from tending ewes to be shepherd over His people Jacob-- over Israel, His inheritance.

71He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel.

72He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands.

72He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.