King James Version KJV
New Living Translation NLT
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
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O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
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for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
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stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to 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.
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We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders.
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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For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them 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:
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so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
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So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
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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Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
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The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
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They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
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They forgot what he had done— the great wonders he had shown them,
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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the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
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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For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
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In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.
15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
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He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
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He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!
17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
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Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
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They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.
19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
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They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food 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?
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Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
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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When the LORD heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
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for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
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But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
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He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.
25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.
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They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.
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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He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
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He rained down meat as thick as dust— birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
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He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
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The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.
30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
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But before they satisfied their craving, while the 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.
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the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
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But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
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So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
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When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
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Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
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But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
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Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep 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.
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Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury!
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
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For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
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Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
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Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
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They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.
43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
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They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
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For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.
45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
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He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.
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He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.
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He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
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He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.
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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He loosed on them his fierce anger— all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.
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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He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
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He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
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But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.
53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
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He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.
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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He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.
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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He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
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But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
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They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
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They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
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When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
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Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
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He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
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He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
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Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
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Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.
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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Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
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He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.
67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
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But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
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He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
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There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.
70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
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He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.
71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
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He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel.
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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He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.