[1] Hear my law, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth. [2]
I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, [3]
Which we have heard and known, Our fathers have told us. [4] We will not
hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the
praises of Yahweh, His strength, and his wondrous works that he has
done. [5] For he established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law
in Israel, Which he commanded our fathers, That they should make them
known to their children; [6] That the generation to come might know, even
the children who should be born; Who should arise and tell their
children, [7] That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the
works of God, But keep his commandments, [8] And might not be as their
fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that
didn`t make their hearts loyal, Whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
[9] The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back
in the day of battle. [10] They didn`t keep the covenant of God, And
refused to walk in his law. [11] They forgot his doings, His wondrous
works that he had showed them. [12] Marvelous things did he in the sight of
their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. [13] He split
the sea, and caused them to pass through; He made the waters stand as a
heap. [14] In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, All the night
with a light of fire. [15] He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave
them drink abundantly as out of the depths. [16] He brought streams also
out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers. [17] Yet
they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in
the desert. [18] They tempted God in their heart By asking food
according to their desire. [19] Yes, they spoke against God. They said,
"Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? [20] Behold, he struck the
rock, so that waters gushed out, Streams overflowed. Can he give bread
also? Will he provide flesh for his people?" [21] Therefore Yahweh
heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also
went up against Israel, [22] Because they didn`t believe in God, And
didn`t trust in his salvation. [23] Yet he commanded the skies above,
And opened the doors of heaven. [24] He rained down manna on them to eat,
And gave them food from the sky. [25] Man ate the bread of angels. He
sent them food to the full. [26] He caused the east wind to blow in the
sky. By his power he guided the south wind. [27] He rained also flesh on
them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas. [28] He let them
fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations. [29] So they
ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire. [30] They
didn`t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
[31] When the anger of God went up against them, And killed some of the
fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel. [32] For all
this they still sinned, And didn`t believe in his wondrous works. [33]
Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror.
[34] When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned
and sought God earnestly. [35] They remembered that God was their rock,
The Most High God their redeemer. [36] But they flattered him with their
mouth, And lied to him with their tongue. [37] For their heart was not
right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant. [38] But he,
being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn`t destroy them. Yes,
many times he turned his anger away, And didn`t stir up all his wrath.
[39] He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away,
and doesn`t come again. [40] How often did they rebel against him in the
wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! [41] They turned again and
tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. [42] They didn`t
remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
[43] How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan,
[44] Turned their rivers into blood, Their streams, so that they could
not drink. [45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
Frogs, which destroyed them. [46] He gave also their increase to the
caterpillar, Their labor to the locust. [47] He destroyed their vines
with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost. [48] He gave over their
cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. [49] He
threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and
trouble, And a band of angels of evil. [50] He made a path for his
anger. He didn`t spare their soul from death, But gave their life
over to the pestilence, [51] And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The
chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. [52] But he led forth his own
people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. [53]
He led them safely, so that they weren`t afraid, But the sea overwhelmed
their enemies. [54] He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To
this mountain, which his right hand had taken. [55] He also drove out the
nations before them, Allotted them for an inheritance by line, And
made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. [56] Yet they tempted
and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn`t keep his testimonies;
[57] But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They
were turned aside like a deceitful bow. [58] For they provoked him to anger
with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their engraved
images. [59] When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred
Israel; [60] So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he
placed among men; [61] And delivered his strength into captivity, His
glory into the adversary`s hand. [62] He also gave his people over to the
sword, And was angry with his inheritance. [63] Fire devoured their
young men; Their virgins had no wedding song. [64] Their priests fell by
the sword; Their widows made no lamentation. [65] Then the Lord awakened
as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
[66] He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual
reproach. [67] Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn`t
choose the tribe of Ephraim, [68] But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount
Zion which he loved. [69] He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like
the earth which he has established forever. [70] He also chose David his
servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; [71] From following the ewes
that have their young he brought him To be the shepherd of Jacob, his
people, and Israel, his inheritance. [72] So he was their shepherd
according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the
skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 79 A Psalm by Asaph.
