A poem of Asaph.
1 My people, give ear to my Torah,
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I open my mouth in a parable;
I utter riddles of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
For our fathers have declared to us.
4 We do not hide from their children,
Declaring to the generation to come the praises of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄,
And His strength and His wonders which He has done.
5 For He raised a witness in Ya’aqoḇ,
And put a Torah in Yisra’ĕl,
Which He commanded our fathers,
To teach them to their children;
6 That it might be known to a generation to come,
To children who would be born,
To rise up and declare to their children,
7 And place their trust in Elohim,
And not forget the works of Ĕl,
But watch over His Commands,
8 And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation which did not prepare its heart,
Whose spirit was not steadfast to Ĕl.
9 The children of Ephrayim, armed bow archers,
Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not guard the Covenant of Elohim,
And they refused to walk in His Torah,
11 And they forgot His deeds
And His wonders which He had shown them.
12 He did wonders in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Mitsrayim, in the field of Tso’an.
13 He split the sea and caused them to pass through,
And He made the waters stand up like a heap,
14 And led them with the cloud by day,
And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And made them drink, as from the great depths,
16 And brought forth streams from the rock,
And caused waters to come down as rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against Him
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tried Ĕl in their heart
By asking food according to their desire.
19 And they spoke against Elohim.
They said, “Is Ĕl able to prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 “Look, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Is He able to give bread also?
Would He provide meat for His people?”
21 Therefore 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 heard, and He was wroth;
So a fire was kindled against Ya’aqoḇ,
And displeasure also came up against Yisra’ĕl,
22 Because they did not believe in Elohim,
Neither did they trust in His deliverance.
23 Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of the shamayim,
24 And He rained down manna on them to eat,
And He gave them the grain of the shamayim.
25 Men ate bread of the mighty;
He sent them provisions to satisfaction.
26 He made an east wind blow in the shamayim;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.
27 And He rained meat on them like the dust,
And winged birds like the sand of the seas,
28 And let them fall in the midst of His camp,
All around His Mishkan.
29 So they ate and were completely satisfied,
For He brought them what they desired.
30 They had not turned away from their desire,
Their food was still in their mouths,
31 When the wrath of Elohim came against them,
And He slew among their fat ones,
And He struck down the choice ones of Yisra’ĕl.
32 In spite of all this they still sinned,
And did not believe in His wonders.
33 So He ended their days in a breath,
And their years in trouble.
34 When He slew them, then they sought Him,
And they returned and earnestly sought Ĕl.
35 And they remembered that Elohim was their rock,
And the Most High Ĕl their redeemer.
36 But they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue,
37 For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
And they were not true to His Covenant.
38 But He, the Compassionate One,
Pardoned wickedness,
And did not destroy them.
And many a time He turned His displeasure away,
And did not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A passing breath that does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
41 And again and again they tried Ĕl,
And provoked the Qadosh One of Yisra’ĕl.
42 They did not remember His hand,
The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,
43 How He worked His signs in Mitsrayim,
And His wonders in the field of Tso’an.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
And they could not drink their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,
And frogs which destroyed them,
46 And gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labour to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost,
48 And gave their beasts over to the hail,
And their livestock to bolts of fire.
49 He sent on them the burning of His displeasure,
Wrath, and rage, and distress,
A deputation of messengers of evils.
50 He made a path for His displeasure;
He did not spare their being from death,
But gave their life over to the plague.
51 And He smote all the first-born in Mitsrayim,
The first-fruits of strength in the tents of Ḥam,
52 Then made His own people go forth like sheep,
And led them in the wilderness like a flock,
53 And He led them on safely,
And they did not fear,
But the sea covered their enemies.
54 And He brought them to the border of His qodesh place,
This mountain which His right hand had gained,
55 And drove out nations before them,
And allotted them a measured inheritance,
And made the tribes of Yisra’ĕl dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tried and rebelled
Against the Most High Elohim,
And did not guard His Witnesses,
57 But they turned back
And acted treacherously like their fathers;
They twisted like a treacherous bow.
58 For they enraged Him with their high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59 When Elohim heard this, He was wroth,
And greatly despised Yisra’ĕl,
60 And He left the Mishkan of Shiloh,
The Tent which He had put up among men.
61 And He gave His strength into captivity
And His comeliness into the hand of the adversary.
62 And He gave His people over to the sword,
And He was wroth with His inheritance.
63 His young men were consumed by fire,
And His maidens were not praised.
64 His kohenim fell by the sword,
And their widows could not weep.
65 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 awoke as one asleep,
As a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66 And He smote His adversaries backward;
He put them to an everlasting reproach.
67 Then He rejected the tent of Yosĕph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephrayim,
68 But chose the tribe of Yahuḏah,
Mount Tsiyon, which He loved.
69 And He built His Miqdash like the heights,
Like the earth He founded it forever.
70 And He chose Dawiḏ His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 He brought him in from tending the ewes,
To shepherd Ya’aqoḇ His people,
And Yisra’ĕl His inheritance.
72 And he shepherded them
According to the integrity of his heart,
And led them by the skill of his hands.