1A thoughtful song by Asaph. My people, listen to my teaching. Pay attention to what I say.
2I will speak in parables. I will reveal ancient mysteries.
3These are things we have heard and known, things our ancestors told us.
4We will not hide them from their children, but will tell the next generation about the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and the wonderful things he has done.
5For He established a law in Jacob and gave a teaching in Israel, which He commanded our ancestors to make known to their children,
6so that the next generation, even the children yet to be born, would know them. They would then rise up and tell their own children,
7that they might put their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commands.
8They should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that was not loyal, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The people of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle.
10They did not keep God's agreement and refused to live by his law.
11They forgot what he had done, the amazing things he had shown them.
12He did wonderful things when their ancestors were watching, in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13He split the sea, allowing them to pass through. He made the waters stand up like a wall.
14During the day he led them with a cloud, and all night with a glowing fire.
15He split rocks in the desert and gave them plenty of water to drink, as if from deep springs.
16He also made streams flow from the rock, causing water to run down like rivers.
17Yet, they continued to sin against him and rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their hearts by demanding the food they wanted.
19Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a meal in the desert?
20Look, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, and streams overflowed. But can he also give us bread? Will he provide meat for his people?”
21Therefore, Yahweh heard and became angry. Fire broke out against Jacob, and anger rose against Israel,
22because they didn’t believe in God and didn’t trust in his rescue.
23Yet, he commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.
24He rained manna on them to eat and gave them food from the sky.
25People ate the food of angels. He sent them more than enough food.
26He made the east wind blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
27He also rained meat on them like dust; birds with wings like the sand of the seas.
28He made them fall in the middle of their camp, all around their homes.
29So they ate and were completely full. He gave them what they desired.
30They didn’t turn away from their cravings. The food was still in their mouths,
31when God became angry with them, he killed some of their strongest men and struck down the young men of Israel.
32Even after all this, they continued to sin and did not believe in his wonderful works.
33So he made their days vanish quickly and their years end in terror.
34When he killed them, they would then seek him. They would turn back and eagerly search for God.
35They remembered that God was their protective rock, the Most High God, their rescuer.
36But they flattered him with their words and lied to him with their tongues.
37Because their hearts were not loyal to him, and they were not faithful to his agreement.
38But God, in his mercy, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them. Many times he turned his anger away and did not unleash all his wrath.
39He remembered that they were only human, like a passing wind that does not return.
40How many times they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
41They repeatedly tested God and angered the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his powerful hand, or the day he rescued them from their enemy;
43how he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so they could not drink.
45He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46He also gave their harvest to caterpillars and the results of their hard work to locusts.
47He destroyed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.
48He also handed their livestock over to the hail and their flocks to burning lightning bolts.
49He unleashed on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, sending a group of destructive angels.
50He cleared a path for his anger. He did not save them from death but surrendered their lives to disease.
51and struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the strongest among them in the tents of Ham.
52But he led his own people out like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53He led them safely, so they were not afraid, but the sea drowned their enemies.
54He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountain, which he had claimed with his own power.
55He also drove out the nations before them, divided their land among the tribes of Israel as an inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel live in their tents.
56Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not obey his commands;
57instead they turned away and betrayed him like their ancestors. They were unreliable, like a faulty bow.
58They made God angry with their places of worship on hills, and made him jealous with their carved idols.
59When God heard this, he was furious and completely rejected Israel.
60So he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he lived among people.
61He allowed his power to be captured and his glory to fall into the enemy's hands.
62He also handed his people over to be killed by the sword, because he was angry with his chosen nation.
63Fire consumed their young men. Their young women had no wedding songs.
64Their priests were killed by the sword, and their widows couldn't even cry.
65Then the Lord woke up as if from sleep, like a strong man shouting after drinking wine.
66He struck his enemies on their backs, bringing them lasting disgrace.
67Furthermore, he rejected the family line of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
69He built his holy temple as high as the heavens, like the earth which he established forever.
70He also chose his servant David and took him from the sheep pens.
71He brought him from tending the mother sheep to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his special possession.
72So David shepherded them with an honest heart and guided them with skillful hands.