1  ⁱGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2  ^jI will open my mouth ^kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3  things that we have heard and known,

that our ^lfathers have told us.

4  We will not ^mhide them from their children,

but ⁿtell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and ^othe wonders that he has done.

5  He established ^pa testimony in ^qJacob

and appointed a law in ^qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6  that ^rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7  so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget ^sthe works of God,

but ^tkeep his commandments;

8  and that they should not be ^ulike their fathers,

^va stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation ^wwhose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9  The Ephraimites, armed with² the bow,

^xturned back on the day of battle.

10  They ^ydid not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11  They ^zforgot his works

and ^athe wonders that he had shown them.

32  In spite of all this, they ^dstill sinned;

^edespite his wonders, they did not believe.

33  So he made ^ftheir days ^gvanish like¹ a breath,²

and their years in terror.

34  When he killed them, they ^hsought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35  They remembered that God was their ⁱrock,

the Most High God their ^jredeemer.

36  But they ^kflattered him with their mouths;

they ^llied to him with their tongues.

37  Their ^mheart was not ⁿsteadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38  Yet he, being ^ocompassionate,

^patoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39  He ^qremembered that they were but ^rflesh,

^sa wind that passes and comes not again.

40  How often they ^trebelled against him in the wilderness

and ^ugrieved him in ^vthe desert!

41  They ^wtested God again and again

and provoked ^xthe Holy One of Israel.

42  They ^ydid not remember his power³

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,