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 them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
⁷ That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
⁸ And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep the covenant of God;
They refused to walk in His law,
¹¹ And forgot His works
And His wonders that He had shown them.

¹² Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
¹⁶ He also brought streams out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
¹⁸ And they tested God in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.
¹⁹ Yes, they spoke against God:
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ Behold, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Can He provide meat for His people?”

²¹ Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel,
²² Because they did not believe in God,
And did not trust in His salvation.
²³ Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴ Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven.
²⁵ Men ate angels’ food;
He sent them food to the full.

²⁶ He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.
²⁷ He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.
²⁹ So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.
³⁰ They were not deprived of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,
³¹ The wrath of God came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.

³² In spite of this they still sinned,
And did not believe in His wondrous works.
³³ Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.

³⁴ When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
³⁶ Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;
³⁷ For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
³⁸ But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;
³⁹ For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.

⁴⁰ How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember His power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
⁴³ When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
⁴⁴ Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
⁴⁸ He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning.
⁴⁹ He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
⁵⁰ He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life over to the plague,
⁵¹ And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
⁵³ And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
⁵⁵ He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶ Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
⁵⁷ But turned back and acted unfaithfully 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 carved images.
⁵⁹ When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
⁶⁰ So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
⁶¹ And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.
⁶² He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
⁶³ The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
⁶⁶ And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷ Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loved.
⁶⁹ And 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 had young He brought him,
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
⁷² So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.