Tell the Coming Generation
A Maskil1 of hAsaph.
1 iGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 jI will open my mouth kin a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our lfathers have told us.
4 We will not mhide them from their children,
but ntell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and othe wonders that he has done.
5 He established pa testimony in qJacob
and appointed a law in qIsrael,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that rthe next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget sthe works of God,
but tkeep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be ulike their fathers,
va stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation wwhose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,
xturned back on the day of battle.
10 They ydid not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They zforgot his works
and athe wonders that he had shown them.
12 In the sight of their fathers bhe performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in cthe fields of Zoan.
13 He ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters estand like a heap.
14 fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He gsplit rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of hthe rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
irebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They jtested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
k“Can God lspread a table in the wilderness?
20 mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
na fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they odid not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and popened the doors of heaven,
24 and he qrained down on them manna to eat
and gave them rthe grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of sthe angels;
he sent them food tin abundance.
26 He ucaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like vdust,
winged birds like wthe sand of the seas;
28 he xlet them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they yate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they zcraved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
awhile the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed bthe strongest of them
and laid low cthe young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they dstill sinned;
edespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made ftheir days gvanish like3 a breath,4
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they hsought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their irock,
the Most High God their jredeemer.
36 But they kflattered him with their mouths;
they llied to him with their tongues.
37 Their mheart was not nsteadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being ocompassionate,
patoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He qremembered that they were but rflesh,
sa wind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they trebelled against him in the wilderness
and ugrieved him in vthe desert!
41 They wtested God again and again
and provoked xthe Holy One of Israel.
42 They ydid not remember his power5
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 zwhen he performed his asigns in Egypt
and his bmarvels in cthe fields of Zoan.
44 He dturned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of eflies, which devoured them,
and ffrogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to gthe destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hhail
and their sycamores with frost.
48 He gave over their icattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of jdestroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 He struck down every kfirstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of lHam.
52 Then he led out his people mlike sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 nHe led them in safety, so that they owere not afraid,
but pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to his qholy land,
rto the mountain which his right hand had swon.
55 He tdrove out nations before them;
he uapportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they vtested and wrebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like xa deceitful bow.
58 For they yprovoked him to anger with their zhigh places;
they amoved him to jealousy with their bidols.
59 When God heard, he was full of cwrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60 He dforsook his dwelling at eShiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his fpower to captivity,
his gglory to the hand of the foe.
62 He hgave his people over to the sword
and ivented his wrath on his heritage.
63 jFire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no kmarriage song.
64 Their lpriests fell by the sword,
and their mwidows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord nawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he oput his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of pJoseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he qloves.
69 He rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He schose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him
to ushepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his vinheritance.
72 With wupright heart he shepherded them
and xguided them with his skillful hand.
Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to fThe Gittith.1 Of gAsaph.
1 hSing aloud to God our strength;
ishout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound jthe tambourine,
kthe sweet lyre with kthe harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at lthe new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule2 of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it ma decree in nJoseph
when he owent out over3 the land of Egypt.
pI hear a language qI had not known:
6 “I rrelieved your4 shoulder of sthe burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you tcalled, and I delivered you;
I uanswered you in the secret place of thunder;
I vtested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 wHear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no xstrange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a yforeign god.
10 zI am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
aOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel bwould not submit to me.
12 So I cgave them over to their dstubborn hearts,
to follow their own ecounsels.
13 fOh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would gwalk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and hturn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would icringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you5 with jthe finest of the wheat,
and with khoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Rescue the Weak and Needy
A Psalm of lAsaph.
1 mGod nhas taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of pthe gods he qholds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and rshow partiality to sthe wicked? Selah
3 tGive justice to uthe weak and the fatherless;
vmaintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 wRescue the weak and the needy;
xdeliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 yThey have neither knowledge nor understanding,
zthey walk about in darkness;
6 cI said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men dyou shall die,
and fall like any prince.”6
8 eArise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall finherit all the nations!
O God, Do Not Keep Silence
A Song. A Psalm of gAsaph.
1 O God, do not keep silence;
hdo not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies imake an uproar;
those who hate you have jraised their heads.
3 They lay kcrafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your ltreasured ones.
4 They say, “Come, mlet us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
5 For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of nEdom and othe Ishmaelites,
7 rGebal and pAmmon and sAmalek,
tPhilistia with the inhabitants of uTyre;
8 vAsshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of wthe children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to xMidian,
as to ySisera and Jabin at zthe river Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at aEn-dor,
who became bdung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like cOreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like dZebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, e“Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like fwhirling dust,7
like gchaff before the wind.
14 As hfire consumes the forest,
as the flame isets the mountains ablaze,
15 so may you pursue them jwith your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16 kFill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be lput to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 that they may mknow that you alone,
nwhose name is the Lord,
are othe Most High over all the earth.
