[1] Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
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[2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
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[3] Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
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[4] We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done.
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[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;
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[6] That the generation to come might knowthem, even the children that should be born; Who should arise and tellthemto their children,
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[7] That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,
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[8] And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that set not their heart aright, And whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
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[9] The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.
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[10] They kept not the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law;
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[11] And they forgat his doings, And his wondrous works that he had showed them.
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[12] Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
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[13] He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
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[14] In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.
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[15] He clave rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
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[16] He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.
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[17] Yet went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
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[18] And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.
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[19] Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
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[20] Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?
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[21] Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel;
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[22] Because they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation.
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[23] Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven;
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[24] And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.
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[25] Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.
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[26] He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind.
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[27] He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas:
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[28] And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations.
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[29] So they did eat, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire.
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[30] They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths,
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[31] When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel.
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[32] For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works.
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[33] Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror.
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[34] When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly.
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[35] And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer.
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[36] But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue.
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[37] For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
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[38] But he, being merciful, forgave theiriniquity, and destroyedthemnot: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath.
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[39] And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
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[40] How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!
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[41] And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
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[42] They remembered not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
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[43] How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan,
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[44] And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.
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[45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.
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[46] He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust.
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[47] He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycomore-trees with frost.
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[48] He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
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[49] He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil.
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[50] He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,
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[51] And smote all the first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
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[52] But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
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[53] And he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
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[54] And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten.
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[55] He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
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[56] Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And kept not his testimonies;
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[57] But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
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[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
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[59] When God heardthis, he was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;
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[60] So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
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[61] And delivered his strength into captivity, And his glory into the adversary’s hand.
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[62] He gave his people over also unto the sword, And was wroth with his inheritance.
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[63] Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song.
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[64] Their priests fell by the sword; And their widows made no lamentation.
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[65] Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
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[66] And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.
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[67] Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
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[68] But chose the tribe of Judah, The mount Zion which he loved.
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[69] And he built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he hath established for ever.
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[70] He chose David also his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds:
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[71] From following the ewes that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
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[72] So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
