The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
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<<A contemplation by Asaph.>> Hear my law, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb; I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
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I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother's knee.
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Which we have heard and known, Our fathers have told us.
4 We're not keeping this to ourselves, we're passing it along to the next generation - God's fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done.
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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.
5 He planted a witness in Jacob, set his Word firmly in Israel, Then commanded our parents to teach it to their children
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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;
6 So the next generation would know, and all the generations to come - Know the truth and tell the stories
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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,
7 can trust in God, Never forget the works of God but keep his commands to the letter.
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That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,
8 Heaven forbid they should be like their parents, bullheaded and bad, A fickle and faithless bunch who never stayed true to God.
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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.
9 The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began.
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The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They were cowards to God's Covenant, refused to walk by his Word.
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They didn't keep the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law.
11 They forgot what he had done - marvels he'd done right before their eyes.
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They forgot his doings, His wondrous works that he had shown them.
12 He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.
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Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split the Sea and they walked right through it; he piled the waters to the right and the left.
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He split the sea, and caused them to pass through; He made the waters stand as a heap.
14 He led them by day with a cloud, led them all the night long with a fiery torch.
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In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, All the night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness, gave them all they could drink from underground springs;
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He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He made creeks flow out from sheer rock, and water pour out like a river.
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He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 All they did was sin even more, rebel in the desert against the High God.
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Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tried to get their own way with God, clamored for favors, for special attention.
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They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.
19 They whined like spoiled children, "Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?
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Yes, they spoke against God. They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed, creeks cascaded from the rock. But how about some fresh-baked bread? How about a nice cut of meat?"
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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?"
21 When God heard that, he was furious - his anger flared against Jacob, he lost his temper with Israel.
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Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also went up against Israel,
22 It was clear they didn't believe God, had no intention of trusting in his help.
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Because they didn't believe in God, And didn't trust in his salvation.
23 But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.
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Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
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He rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky.
25 They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
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Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
26 He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind.
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He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
27 This time it was birds that rained down - succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
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He rained also flesh on them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas.
28 He aimed them right for the center of their camp; all round their tents there were birds.
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He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations.
29 They ate and had their fill; he handed them everything they craved on a platter.
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So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.
30 But their greed knew no bounds; they stuffed their mouths with more and more.
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They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
31 Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted - he cut down their brightest and best, he laid low Israel's finest young men.
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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.
32 And - can you believe it? - they kept right on sinning; all those wonders and they still wouldn't believe!
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For all this they still sinned, And didn't believe in his wondrous works.
33 So their lives dribbled off to nothing - nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town.
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Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror.
34 When he cut them down, they came running for help; they turned and pled for mercy.
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When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
35 They gave witness that God was their rock, that High God was their redeemer,
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They remembered that God was their rock, The Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they didn't mean a word of it; they lied through their teeth the whole time.
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But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.
37 They could not have cared less about him, wanted nothing to do with his Covenant.
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For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 And God? Compassionate! Forgave the sin! Didn't destroy! Over and over he reined in his anger, restrained his considerable wrath.
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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.
39 He knew what they were made of; he knew there wasn't much to them,
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He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.
40 How often in the desert they had spurned him, tried his patience in those wilderness years.
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How often did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!
41 Time and again they pushed him to the limit, provoked Israel's Holy God.
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They turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 How quickly they forgot what he'd done, forgot their day of rescue from the enemy,
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They didn't remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43 When he did miracles in Egypt, wonders on the plain of Zoan.
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How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 He turned the River and its streams to blood - not a drop of water fit to drink.
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Turned their rivers into blood, Their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent flies, which ate them alive, and frogs, which bedeviled them.
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He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; Frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He turned their harvest over to caterpillars, everything they had worked for to the locusts.
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He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, Their labor to the locust.
47 He flattened their grapevines with hail; a killing frost ruined their orchards.
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He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost.
48 He pounded their cattle with hail, let thunderbolts loose on their herds.
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He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 His anger flared, a wild firestorm of havoc, An advance guard of disease-carrying angels
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He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil.
50 to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives.
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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,
51 He killed all the Egyptian firstborns, lusty infants, offspring of Ham's virility.
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And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 Then he led his people out like sheep, took his flock safely through the wilderness.
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But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He took good care of them; they had nothing to fear. The Sea took care of their enemies for good.
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He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them into his holy land, this mountain he claimed for his own.
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He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
55 He scattered everyone who got in their way; he staked out an inheritance for them - the tribes of Israel all had their own places.
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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.
56 But they kept on giving him a hard time, rebelled against God, the High God, refused to do anything he told them.
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Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn't keep his testimonies;
57 They were worse, if that's possible, than their parents: traitors - crooked as a corkscrew.
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But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 Their pagan orgies provoked God's anger, their obscene idolatries broke his heart.
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For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59 When God heard their carryings-on, he was furious; he posted a huge No over Israel.
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When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel;
60 He walked off and left Shiloh empty, abandoned the shrine where he had met with Israel.
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So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
61 He let his pride and joy go to the dogs, turned his back on the pride of his life.
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And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand.
62 He turned them loose on fields of battle; angry, he let them fend for themselves.
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He also gave his people over to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance.
63 Their young men went to war and never came back; their young women waited in vain.
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Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song.
64 Their priests were massacred, and their widows never shed a tear.
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Their priests fell by the sword; Their widows made no lamentation.
65 Suddenly the Lord was up on his feet like someone roused from deep sleep, shouting like a drunken warrior.
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Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66 He hit his enemies hard, sent them running, yelping, not daring to look back.
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He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 He disqualified Joseph as leader, told Ephraim he didn't have what it takes,
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Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 And chose the Tribe of Judah instead, Mount Zion, which he loves so much.
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But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary there, resplendent, solid and lasting as the earth itself.
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He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he has established forever.
70 Then he chose David, his servant, handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens.
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He also chose David his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs, the next day God had him shepherding Jacob, his people Israel, his prize possession.
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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.
72 His good heart made him a good shepherd; he guided the people wisely and well.
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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.