## That the Generation to Come Might Know 

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Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 

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I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour forth dark sayings of old, 

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Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have recounted to us. 

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We will not conceal them from their children, But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done. 

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For He established a testimony in Jacob And set a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, 

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That the generation to come might know, _even_ the children _yet_ to be born, _That_ they may arise and recount _them_ to their children, 

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That they should set their confidence in God And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments, 

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And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God. 

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The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, _Yet_ they turned back in the day of battle. 

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They did not keep the covenant of God And refused to walk in His law; 

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So they forgot His acts And His wondrous deeds that He had shown them. 

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He did wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 

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He split the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap. 

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Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire. 

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He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness And so gave _them_ abundant drink like the ocean depths. 

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He brought forth streams also from the cliff face And caused waters to run down like rivers. 

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Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. 

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And in their heart they put God to the test By asking for food according to their desire. 

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Then they spoke against God; They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? 

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Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He prepare meat for His people?" 

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Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, 

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Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation. 

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Yet He commanded the skies above And opened the doors of heaven; 

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He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them grain from heaven. 

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Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them provision to satisfy. 

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He led forth the east wind in the heavens And by His strength He guided the south wind. 

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Then He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, 

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He caused _them_ to fall in the midst of His camp, All around His dwelling places. 

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So they ate and were very satisfied, And their desire He brought to them. 

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Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths, 

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The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel. 

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In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wondrous deeds. 

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So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror. 

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When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and sought earnestly for God; 

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And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. 

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But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. 

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For their heart was not prepared _to remain_ with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant. 

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But He, being compassionate, atoned for _their_ iniquity and did not destroy _them_; And He abounded in turning back His anger And did not arouse all His wrath. 

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Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that goes and does not return. 

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How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the wasteland! 

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Again and again they tested God, And pained the Holy One of Israel. 

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They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary, 

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When He performed His signs in Egypt And His miracles in the field of Zoan, 

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And turned their rivers to blood, And their streams, they could not drink. 

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He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them. 

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He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the fruit of their labor to the locust. 

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He killed their vines with hailstones And their sycamore trees with frost. 

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He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones And their herds to bolts of lightning. 

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He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury and indignation and distress, A band of destroying angels. 

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He leveled a path for His anger; He did not hold back their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague, 

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So He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The first of their vigor in the tents of Ham. 

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But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock; 

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He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea covered their enemies. 

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So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had acquired. 

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He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. 

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Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies, 

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But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow. 

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For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images. 

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God heard and was filled with wrath And greatly rejected Israel; 

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So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He caused to dwell among men, 

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And gave up His strength to captivity And His beauty into the hand of the adversary. 

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He also gave over His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance. 

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Fire devoured His choice men, And His virgins had no wedding songs. 

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His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep. 

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Then the Lord awoke as _if from_ sleep, As _if He were a_ warrior overcome by wine. 

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He struck His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. 

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He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 

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But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. 

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And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever. 

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He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds; 

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From following the nursing ewes He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. 

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So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And led them with his skillful hands.