|
Chapter 78 |
| 1 | Give ear, O my
people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. |
| 2 | I will
open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: |
| 3 | Which
we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. |
| 4 | We will not
hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of
the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
|
| 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, even the
children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their
children: |
| 7
| That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the
works of God, but keep his commandments: |
|
8 | And might not be as their
fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their
heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. |
| 9 | The
children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of
battle. |
| 10
| They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in
his law; |
| 11
| And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed
them. |
| 12 |
Marvellous things did he 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 to stand as an heap.
|
| 14 | In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a
light of fire. |
|
15 | He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them
drink as out of the great depths. |
| 16 | He brought streams also out
of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. |
| 17 | And they
sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
|
| 18 | And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
|
| 19 | Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness? |
|
20 | Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed
out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh
for his people? |
|
21 | Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a
fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
|
| 22 | Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his
salvation: |
| 23
| Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened
the doors of heaven, |
| 24 | And had rained down manna upon them to eat,
and had given them of the corn of heaven. |
|
25 | Man did eat angels' food:
he sent them meat to the full. |
| 26 | He caused an east wind to
blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. |
| 27 |
He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of
the sea: |
| 28
| And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round
about their habitations. |
|
29 | So they did eat, and were well filled:
for he gave them their own desire; |
| 30 | They were not estranged from
their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, |
| 31 | The
wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the
chosen men of Israel. |
| 32 | For all this they sinned still, and believed
not for his wondrous works. |
|
33 | Therefore their days did he consume in
vanity, and their years in trouble. |
| 34 | When he slew them, then they
sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. |
| 35 | And they
remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. |
| 36 |
Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with
their tongues. |
|
37 | For their heart was not right with him, neither
were they stedfast in his covenant. |
| 38 | But he, being full of
compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time
turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. |
| 39 | For
he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh
not again. |
| 40
| How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and
grieve him in the desert! |
|
41 | Yea, they turned back and tempted God,
and limited the Holy One of Israel. |
| 42 | They remembered not his hand,
nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. |
| 43 | How he had
wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan. |
| 44 |
And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not
drink. |
| 45
| He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured
them; and frogs, which destroyed them. |
| 46 | He gave also their increase
unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. |
| 47 | He destroyed
their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. |
| 48 | He gave
up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
|
| 49 | He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation,
and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. |
| 50 | He made a
way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over
to the pestilence; |
| 51 | And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the
chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: |
| 52 | But made his
own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a
flock. |
| 53
| And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but
the sea overwhelmed their enemies. |
| 54 | And he brought them to the
border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had
purchased. |
| 55
| He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided
them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their
tents. |
| 56
| Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept
not his testimonies: |
| 57 | But turned back, and dealt 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 graven images. |
| 59 | When God heard this, he was wroth, and
greatly abhorred Israel: |
|
60 | So that he forsook the tabernacle of
Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; |
|
61 | And delivered his
strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. |
| 62 | He
gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his
inheritance. |
|
63 | The fire consumed their young men; and their
maidens were not given to marriage. |
| 64 | Their priests fell by the
sword; and their widows made no lamentation. |
|
65 | Then the LORD awaked as
one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
|
| 66 | And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual
reproach. |
| 67
| Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose
not the tribe of Ephraim: |
|
68 | But chose the tribe of Judah, the
mount Zion which he loved. |
|
69 | And he built his sanctuary like high
palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. |
| 70 | He chose
David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: |
| 71 | From
following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people,
and Israel his inheritance. |
|
72 | So he fed them according to the
integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. |
