Tell the Coming Generation
A oMaskil1 of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 pI will open my mouth in a qparable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that rour fathers have told us.
4 sWe will not hide them from their children,
but ttell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5 He established a utestimony in Jacob
vand appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children wyet unborn,
and arise and xtell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not yforget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be zlike their fathers,
a astubborn and brebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not ckeep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11 They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12 dIn the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 eHe divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 gHe split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They htested God in their heart
by demanding the food they icraved.
19 jThey spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 kTherefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because lthey did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and mopened the doors of heaven,
24 and nhe rained down on them manna to eat
and ogave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26 pHe caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for qhe gave them what they craved.
30 rBut before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
32 sIn spite of all this, they still sinned;
tdespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he made their days vanish like3 a breath,4
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their uredeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, being compassionate,
vatoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He wremembered that they were but xflesh,
a ywind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they zrebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41 They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power5
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 awhen he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
44 bHe turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 cHe sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and dfrogs, which destroyed them.
46 eHe gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 fHe destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
48 gHe gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 hHe struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
ithe firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 Then he led out his people like sheep
and jguided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
kbut the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he lbrought them to his holy land,
mto the mountain which his right hand had won.
55 He ndrove out nations before them;
ohe apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted plike a deceitful bow.
58 qFor they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59 When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rrejected Israel.
60 sHe forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his tpower to captivity,
uhis glory to the hand of the foe.
62 He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63 Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
64 Their vpriests fell by the sword,
and their wwidows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord xawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, ywhich he loves.
69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He zchose David his servant
and took him afrom the sheepfolds;
71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to bshepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
72 cWith upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.
Book Five
Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So
1 Oh kgive thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let lthe redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has mredeemed from trouble1
3 and ngathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some owandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 pThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8 qLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9 For he rsatisfies the longing soul,
and sthe hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some tsat in udarkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the vcounsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with wnone to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he xshatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they yloathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
22 And let them offer zsacrifices of thanksgiving,
and atell of his deeds in songs of joy!
23 Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
24 they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25 For bhe commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
ctheir courage melted away in their evil plight;
27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.2
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
29 dHe made the estorm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad that the waters3 were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
37 they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.
38 By his fblessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40 ghe pours contempt on princes
and hmakes them wander in trackless wastes;
41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.
42 iThe upright see it and are glad,
and jall wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
