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My people, hear my teaching
Listen to the words of my mouth
I will open my mouth with a parable
Listen to me as this is truth

I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
Things we have heard and known
Things our ancestors have told us
Before time came for them to be gone

We will not hide them from their descendants
We will tell the next generation
The praiseworthy deeds of the Lord
His power, and the wonders He has done for our nation

He decreed statutes for Jacob
And established the law in Israel by word
Which He commanded our ancestors
To teach their children to believe in God

So the next generation would know it
Even the children yet to be born
And they would tell their children
About that law in their turn

Then they would put their trust in God
And would not forget His deeds
But would keep His commands
In the time of joy and the time of need

They would not be like their ancestors—
A stubborn and rebellious generation
Whose hearts were not loyal to God
Whose spirits were not faithful to Him, ungrateful nation

The men of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle
Though they were armed with bows
They did not keep God’s covenant
And refused to live by his law

They forgot the wonders he had shown them
They forgot what He had done
He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
In the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan

He divided the sea and led them through
He made the water stand up like a wall
He guided them with the cloud by day
And with light from the fire all night, guided them all

He split the rocks in the wilderness
And gave them water as abundant as the seas
He brought streams out of a rocky crag
And made water flow down like rivers

But they continued to sin against him
Rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High
They willfully put God to the test
By demanding the food they craved with loud cries

They spoke against God
They said, “Can God really
Spread a table in the wilderness
For us to it freely?

True, He struck the rock
And water gushed out
Streams flowed abundantly
But can He also give us bread? Let’s find out

Can He supply meat for His people?” -
All the men cried
When the Lord heard them, he was furious
He first didn’t even want to try

His fire broke out against Jacob
And His wrath against Israel rose
For they did not believe in God
Or trust in His deliverance, which He proposed

Yet He gave a command to the skies above
And opened the doors of the heavens
He rained down manna for the people to eat
He gave them the grain of heaven

Human beings ate the bread of angels
He sent them all the food they could eat
He let loose the east wind from the heavens
And by His power made the south wind blow people needs to meet

He rained meat down on them like dust
Birds like sand on the seashore
He made them come down inside their camp
All around their tents to meet needs for sure

They ate till they were gorged—
He had given them what they craved about
But before they turned from what they craved
Even while the food was still in their mouths

God’s anger rose against them
He put to death the sturdiest among them
Cutting down the Israel’s young men
Cutting down the Israel’s young men again and again

In spite of all this, they kept on sinning
In spite of His wonders, they did not believe
So He ended their days in futility
And their years in terror, it’s all what they achieved

Whenever God slew them, they would seek Him
They eagerly turned to him again
They remembered that God was their Rock
That God Most High was their Redeemer in present and then

But then they would flatter Him with their mouths
Lying to Him with their tongues
Their hearts were not loyal to Him
They were not faithful to his covenant singing different songs

Yet He was merciful
He forgave their iniquities
And did not destroy them
Remembering only their victories

Time after time He restrained His anger
And did not stir up His full wrath
He remembered that they were but flesh
A passing breeze that does not return to above

How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the wasteland!
Again and again they put God to the test
They vexed the Holy One of Israel acting as was not planned

They did not remember His power—
The day He redeemed them from the oppressor
The day He displayed His signs in Egypt
His wonders in the region of Zoan against the agressor

He turned their river into blood
They could not drink from their streams
He sent swarms of flies that devoured them
And frogs that devastated them to extreme

He gave their crops to the grasshopper
Their produce to the locust, the goal to meet
He destroyed their vines with hail
And their sycamore-figs with sleet

He gave over their cattle to the hail
Their livestock to bolts of lightning
He unleashed against them His hot anger
His wrath, indignation and hostility— a band of angels of destroying

He prepared a path for His anger
He gave them over to the plague and did not spare them from death
He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt
The firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham, catching their last breath

But He brought His people out like a flock
He led them like sheep through the wilderness
He guided them safely, so they were unafraid
But the sea engulfed their enemies

And so He brought them to the border of His holy land
To the hill country His right hand had taken
He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance
He settled the tribes of Israel in their homes He had made for them

But they put God to the test
And rebelled against the Most High
They did not keep His statutes
And with this they were not right

Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless
As unreliable as a faulty bow that lies idle
They angered Him with their high places
They aroused His jealousy with their idols

When God heard them, He was furious
He rejected Israel completely
He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh
The tent he had set up among humans to be there freely

He sent the ark of His might into captivity
His splendor into the enemy’s arrogance
He gave His people over to the sword
He was furious with His inheritance

Fire consumed their young men
And their young women had no wedding songs
Their priests were put to the sword
And their widows could not weep and all it lasted long

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep
As a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine
He beat back His enemies
He put them to everlasting shame by the power of divine

Then He rejected the tents of Joseph
He did not choose the Ephraim’s tribe
But he chose the tribe of Judah
Mount Zion, which he loved

He built His sanctuary like the heights
Like the earth that He established forever
He chose David His servant
To be apart never

He took him from the sheep pens
He brought him from tending the sheep
To be the shepherd of His people Jacob
Of Israel his inheritance, from evil to keep

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart
He led them with skillful hands
And David shepherded them with integrity of mind
And people lived happily in the Holy land