Listen, my people, to my teaching; * turn your ear to the words of my mouth.

        I will open my mouth in a parable; * I will reveal riddles of old.

            What we have heard and know, * what our fathers have told us

            we will not hide from our grandchildren, * but will tell the next generation:

            the glorious deeds of Yahweh and his triumph, * and his miracles that he has worked.

               He set up a decree in Jacob * and established a law in Israel,

               that what he commanded our fathers, * they should make known to their sons,

            so that the next generation might know, * the children yet unborn * might arise and tell them to their children,

            that they might put their hope in God, * and never forget the deeds of El,

        that they might ever keep his commands, * and not be like their fathers:

        a wayward and rebellious generation, * a generation whose heart was not firm, * whose spirit was unfaithful to God.

The sons of Ephraim were his bowmen, * his treacherous archers * who turned on the day of battle.

They failed to keep the covenant with God, * and refused to walk according to his law.

They forgot his deeds, * the wonders that he had shown them.

    In the sight of their fathers he worked marvels, * in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Zoan.

    He split the sea and brought them through; * he made the waters stand like a dike.

    He led them by a cloud by day, * and through the night by light of fire.

He split the rock in the wilderness, * and watered the vast wasteland itself.

He made streams come out of the crag, * and caused waters to run down like rivers.

    Yet they continued to sin against him, * to defy the Most High in the desert.

    They tested God in their heart, * by demanding food for their gullet.

        They spoke against God and said, * “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

        Even though he struck the rock, * so that the water gushed forth, * and streams swept down in torrents,

        can he also give bread * or provide meat for his people?”

           So when Yahweh heard them * he seethed with anger;

           his fire flared up against Jacob, * and his anger rose against Israel,

           because they had no faith in God, * and did not trust his saving power.

           Yet he commanded the skies above, * and opened the doors of heaven.

           He rained down on them manna to eat, * and gave them the grain of heaven.

           Mere man ate the food of angels; * he sent them provisions in abundance.

        He let loose the east wind from heaven, * and led forth the south wind from his fortress.

        And he rained flesh on them like dust, * winged fowl like the ocean sands.

    He made them fall in the midst of their camp, * round about their dwellings.

    So they ate and had their fill; * he brought them what they craved.

        They did not desist from their complaining * with their food still in their mouth.

        God's anger rose against them; * he killed their sturdiest, * and cut down the choice youth of Israel.

           In spite of all this they went on sinning, * and did not believe in his wonders.

           Their days he made vanish more quickly than vapor, * and their years more quickly than a fleeting phantom.

               When he killed them they sought him; * they repented and sought God in earnest.

               They remembered that God was their Mountain, * and the Most High God their Redeemer.

               But they flattered him with their mouth, * while they lied to him with their tongue.

               Their heart was not steadfast toward him; * they did not believe in his covenant.

               But he the Merciful forgave their sin, * and did not destroy them.

           He restrained his anger often, * and nurtured none of his rage.

           He remembered that they were but flesh, * a passing breath that never returns.

+      How often they defied him in the wilderness, * and grieved him in the desert!

    Again and again they tempted God, * and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

    They did not remember his power, * the day when he ransomed them from the adversary,

        when he worked his miracles in Egypt, * and his prodigies in the plain of Zoan,

        when he turned into blood their rivers, * their streams so that they could not drink.

           He sent flies against them to devour them, * and frogs to destroy them.

           He gave their crops to the grasshopper, * the fruit of their labor to the locust.

               He killed their vines with hail, * and their sycamores with frost.

               He handed over their cattle to hail, * and their flocks to thunderbolts.

                   He sent against them his blazing anger, * fury, rage and havoc,

                   an escort of his devastating angels * to smooth his path before him.

                       He did not spare them from death, * but handed over their lives to the plague.

                       He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, * the first fruit of their vigor in the tents of Ham.

                       Then he led forth his people like sheep, * and like a flock guided them through the wilderness.

                       He guided them securely and unafraid, * while the sea engulfed their foes.

                   He brought them to his holy Mount, * the mountain that his right hand had won.

                   He drove out nations before them, * cut them down on their highlands; * and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

               But they defiantly tempted God; * the Most High and his commandments they did not heed.

               They turned away and broke faith like their fathers; * they gave way like a faulty bow.

               They angered him with their hilltop shrines, * and with their idols roused his jealousy.

           God heard them and was enraged, * and his Greatness rejected Israel.

           He abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh, * the tent he pitched among men.

        He gave his fortress to the captors, * his glorious ark into the hand of the enemy.

        He handed over his people to the sword, * and vented his anger on his patrimony.

    Fire devoured their young men, * and their girls were not praised in wedding song.

    Their priests fell by the sword, * and their widows sang no dirges.

Then the Lord awoke like one who had slept, * like a warrior resting after wine.

He struck his adversaries on the rear; * he covered them with everlasting shame.

    He rejected the tents of Joseph, * and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.

    But he chose the tribe of Judah, * Mount Zion which he loved.

    And he built his sanctuary high like the heavens, * firm like the earth he established from eternity.

He chose David his servant, * and took him from the sheepfolds.

From following ewes he brought him * to shepherd Jacob his people, * and Israel his patrimony.

He tended them with blameless heart, * and with skillful hands he guided them.