1 My friends, I beg you

to listen as I teach.

2 * I will give instruction

and explain the mystery

of what happened long ago.

3 These are things we learned

from our ancestors,

4 and we will tell them

to the next generation.

We won't keep secret

the glorious deeds

and the mighty miracles

of the Lord.

5 God gave his Law

to Jacob's descendants,

the people of Israel.

And he told our ancestors

to teach their children,

6 so that each new generation

would know his Law

and tell it to the next.

7 Then they would trust God

and obey his teachings,

without forgetting anything

God had done.

8 They would be different

from their ancestors,

who were stubborn, rebellious,

and unfaithful to God.

9 The warriors from Ephraim

were armed with arrows,

but they ran away

when the battle began.

10 They broke their agreement

with God,

and they turned their backs

on his teaching.

11 They forgot all he had done,

even the mighty miracles

12 ** he did for their ancestors

near Zoan* in Egypt.

13 * God made a path in the sea

and piled up the water

as he led them across.

14 * He guided them during the day

with a cloud,

and each night he led them

with a flaming fire.

15 * God made water flow

from rocks he split open

in the desert,

and his people drank freely,

as though from a lake.

16 He made streams gush out

like rivers from rocks.

17 But in the desert,

the people of God Most High

kept sinning and rebelling.

18 * They stubbornly tested God

and demanded from him

what they wanted to eat.

19 They challenged God by saying,

"Can God provide food

out here in the desert?

20 It's true God struck the rock

and water gushed out

like a river,

but can he give his people

bread and meat?"

21 When the Lord heard this,

he was angry and furious

with Jacob's descendants,

the people of Israel.

22 They had refused to trust him,

and they had doubted

his saving power.

23 But God gave a command

to the clouds,

and he opened the doors

in the skies.

24 * From heaven he sent grain

that they called manna.*

25 He gave them more than enough,

and each one of them ate

this special food.

26 God's mighty power

sent a strong wind

from the southeast,

27 and it brought birds

that covered the ground,

like sand on the beach.

28 Then God made the birds fall

in the camp of his people

near their tents.

29 God gave his people

all they wanted,

and each of them ate

until they were full.

30 But before they had swallowed

the last bite,

31 God became angry and killed

the strongest and best

from the families of Israel.

32 But the rest kept on sinning

and would not trust

God's miracles.

33 So he cut their lives short

and made them terrified.

34 After he killed some of them,

the others turned to him

with all their hearts.

35 They remembered God Most High,

the mighty rock*

that kept them safe.

36 But they tried to flatter God,

and they told him lies;

37 * they were unfaithful

and broke their promises.

38 Yet God was kind.

He kept forgiving their sins

and didn't destroy them.

He often became angry,

but never lost his temper.

39 God remembered that they

were made of flesh

and were like a wind

that blows once

and then dies down.

40 While they were in the desert,

they often rebelled

and made God sad.

41 They kept testing him

and caused terrible pain

for the Holy One of Israel.

42 They forgot about his power

and how he had rescued them

from their enemies.

43 God showed them all kinds

of wonderful miracles

near Zoan* in Egypt.

44 * He turned the rivers of Egypt

into blood,

and no one could drink

from the streams.

45 * He sent swarms of flies

to pester the Egyptians,

and he sent frogs

to cause them trouble.

46 * God let worms and grasshoppers

eat their crops.

47 * He destroyed their grapevines

and their fig trees

with hail and floods.*

48 Then he killed their cattle

with hail

and their other animals

with lightning.

49 God was so angry and furious

that he went into a rage

and caused them great trouble

by sending swarms

of destroying angels.

50 God released his anger

and slaughtered them

in a terrible way.

51 * He killed the first-born son

of each Egyptian family.

52 * Then God led his people

out of Egypt

and guided them in the desert

like a flock of sheep.

53 * He led them safely along,

and they were not afraid,

but their enemies drowned

in the sea.

54 * God brought his people

to the sacred mountain

that he had taken

by his own power.

55 * He made nations run

from the tribes of Israel,

and he let the tribes

take over their land.

56 * But the people tested

God Most High,

and they refused

to obey his laws.

57 They were as unfaithful

as their ancestors,

and they were as crooked

as a twisted arrow.

58 God demanded all their love,

but they made him angry

by worshiping idols.

59 So God became furious

and completely rejected

the people of Israel.

60 * Then he deserted his home

at Shiloh, where he lived

here on earth.

61 * He let enemies capture

the sacred chest*

and let them dishonor him.

62 God took out his anger

on his chosen ones

and let them be killed

by enemy swords.

63 Fire destroyed the young men,

and the young women were left

with no one to marry.

64 Priests died violent deaths,

but their widows

were not allowed to mourn.

65 Finally the Lord woke up,

like a soldier

startled from a drunken sleep.

66 God scattered his enemies

and made them ashamed

forever.

67 Then the Lord decided

not to make his home

with Joseph's descendants

in Ephraim.*

68 Instead he chose the tribe

of Judah,

and he chose Mount Zion,

the place he loves.

69 There he built his temple

as lofty as the mountains

and as solid as the earth

he made to last forever.

70 * The Lord God chose David

to be his servant and took him

from tending sheep

71 and from caring for lambs.

Then God made him the leader

of Israel, his own nation.

72 David treated the people fairly

and guided them with wisdom.