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Hear my law, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
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I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
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Which we have heard and known, Our fathers have told us.
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We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, His strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.
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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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That the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; Who should arise and tell their children,
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That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,
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And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that didn`t make their hearts loyal, Whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
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The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.
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They didn`t keep the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law.
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They forgot his doings, His wondrous works that he had showed them.
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Marvelous things did he in the sight of 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; He made the waters stand as a heap.
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In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, All the night with a light of fire.
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He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
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He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.
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Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
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They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.
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Yes, 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, Streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?"
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Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also went up against Israel,
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Because they didn`t believe in God, And didn`t 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 on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky.
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Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
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He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
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He rained also flesh on them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas.
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He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations.
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So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.
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They didn`t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
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When the anger of God went up against them, And killed some of the fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel.
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For all this they still sinned, And didn`t believe in his wondrous works.
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Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror.
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When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
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They remembered that God was their rock, The Most High God their redeemer.
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But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.
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For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
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But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn`t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, And didn`t stir up all his wrath.
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He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and doesn`t come again.
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How often did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!
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They turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
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They didn`t remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
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How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan,
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Turned their rivers into blood, Their streams, so that they could not drink.
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He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; Frogs, which destroyed them.
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He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, Their labor to the locust.
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He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost.
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He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
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He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil.
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He made a path for his anger. He didn`t spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,
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And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength 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 weren`t afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
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He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
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He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
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Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn`t keep his testimonies;
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But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
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For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
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When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel;
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So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
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And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary`s hand.
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He also gave his people over to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance.
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Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song.
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Their priests fell by the sword; Their widows made no lamentation.
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Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
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He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
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Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn`t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
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But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
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He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he has established forever.
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He also chose David his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;
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From following the ewes that have their young he brought him To be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.
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So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 79 A Psalm by Asaph.