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.