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