International Standard Version

New Living Translation

1Listen, my people, to my instruction. Hear the words of my mouth.

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

2I will tell a parable, speaking riddles from long ago—

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

3things that we have heard and known and that our ancestors related to us.

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

4We will not withhold them from their descendants; we'll declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD— his might and awesome deeds that 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 decree in Jacob, and established the Law in Israel, that he commanded our ancestors to reveal 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,

6in order that the next generation— children yet to be born— will know them and in turn teach them to their children.

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

7Then they will put their trust in God and they will not forget his awesome deeds. Instead, they will keep his commandments.

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

8They will not be like the rebellious generation of their ancestors, a rebellious generation, whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirits were unfaithful to God.

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

9The descendants of Ephraim were sharp shooters with the bow, but they retreated in 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 have forgotten what he has done, his awesome deeds that they witnessed.

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

12He performed marvelous things in the presence of their ancestors in the land of Egypt— in the fields of Zoan.

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

13He divided the sea so that they were able to cross; he caused the water to stand in a single location.

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

14He led them with a cloud during the day, and during the night with light from the fire.

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

15He caused the rocks to split in the wilderness, and gave them water as from an abundant sea.

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

16He brought streams from rock, causing water to flow like a river.

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

17But time and again, they sinned against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

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

18To test God was in their minds, when they demanded food to satisfy their cravings.

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

19They spoke against God by asking, "Is God able to prepare a feast in the desert?

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

20It's true that Moses struck the rock so that water flowed forth and torrents of water gushed out, but is he also able to give bread or to supply 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, when the LORD heard this, he was angry, and fire broke out against Jacob. Moreover, his anger flared 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 didn't believe in God and didn't trust in his deliverance.

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

23Yet he commanded the skies above and the doors of the heavens to open,

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

24so that manna rained down on them for food and he sent them the grain of heaven.

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

25Mortal men ate the food of angels; he sent provision to them in abundance.

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

26He stirred up the east wind in the heavens 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 caused meat to rain on them like dust and winged birds as the sand of the sea.

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

28He caused these to fall in the middle of the camp and all around their tents.

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

29So they ate and were very satisfied, because he granted their desire.

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

30However, before they had fulfilled their desire, while their food was still in their mouths,

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

31the anger of God flared against them, and he killed the strongest men and humbled Israel's 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.

32In spite of all of this, they kept on sinning and didn't believe in his marvelous deeds.

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

33So he made their days end in futility, and their years with sudden terror.

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

34When he struck them, they sought him; they repented, and eagerly sought God.

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

35Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God was their deliverer.

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.

37For their hearts weren't committed to him, and they weren't faithful to his covenant.

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

38But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity and didn't destroy them; He restrained his anger and didn't vent 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!

39For he remembered that they were only flesh, a passing wind that doesn't return.

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

40How they rebelled against him in the desert, grieving him in the wilderness!

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

41They tested God again and again, provoking 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— the day he delivered them from their adversary,

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

43when he set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the plain 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 made their streams undrinkable.

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

45He sent swarms of insects to bite them and frogs to destroy them.

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

46He gave their crops to caterpillars and what they worked for to locusts.

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

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

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

48He delivered their beasts to hail and their livestock to lightning bolts.

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

49He inflicted his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, sending destroying angels among them.

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

50He blazed a path for his anger; he did not stop short from killing them, but handed them over to pestilence.

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

51He struck every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their manhood in the tents of Ham.

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

52Yet he led out his people like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the desert.

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

53He led them to safety so they would not fear. As for their enemies, the sea covered them.

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

54He brought the people to the border of his holy mountain, which he acquired by his might.

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 and allotted their tribal inheritance, settling 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 tested the Most High God by rebelling against him, and they did not obey his statutes.

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

57They fell away and were as disloyal as their ancestors. They became unreliable, like a defective bow;

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

58they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous.

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

59God heard and became furious, and he completely rejected Israel.

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

60He abandoned the tent at Shiloh, the tent that he established among mankind.

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

61Then he sent his might into captivity and his glory into the control of the adversary.

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

62He delivered his people over to the sword and was angry with his possession.

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

63The young men were consumed by fire, and the virgins had no marriage celebrations.

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

64The priests fell by the sword, yet their widows couldn't weep.

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

65The LORD awoke as though from sleep, like a mighty warrior stimulated by wine.

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

66He beat back his adversaries, permanently disgracing them.

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

67He rejected the clan of Joseph; and the tribe of Ephraim he did not choose.

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

68But he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves.

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

69He built his sanctuary, high as the heavens, like the earth that he established forever.

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

70Then he chose his servant David, whom he took from the sheepfold.

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

71He brought him from birthing sheep to care for Jacob, his people, Israel, his possession.

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

72David shepherded them with a devoted heart, and led them with skillful hands.

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

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

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.