New Living Translation NLT
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,
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An Instruction of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law, Incline your ear to sayings of my mouth.
2 for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
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I open with a simile my mouth, I bring forth hidden things of old,
3 stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
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That we have heard and do know, And our fathers have recounted to us.
4 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.
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We do not hide from their sons, To a later generation recounting praises of Jehovah, And His strength, and His wonders that He hath done.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,
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And He raiseth up a testimony in Jacob, And a law hath placed in Israel, That He commanded our fathers, To make them known to their sons.
6 so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children.
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So that a later generation doth know, Sons who are born, do rise and recount to their sons,
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.
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And place in God their confidence, And forget not the doings of God, But keep His commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.
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And they are not like their fathers, A generation apostate and rebellious, A generation! it hath not prepared its heart, Nor stedfast with God [is] its spirit.
9 The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
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Sons of Ephraim -- armed bearers of bow, Have turned in a day of conflict.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.
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They have not kept the covenant of God, And in His law they have refused to walk,
11 They forgot what he had done— the great wonders he had shown them,
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And they forget His doings, And His wonders that He shewed them.
12 the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
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Before their fathers He hath done wonders, In the land of Egypt -- the field of Zoan.
13 For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!
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He cleft a sea, and causeth them to pass over, Yea, He causeth waters to stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.
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And leadeth them with a cloud by day, And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
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He cleaveth rocks in a wilderness, And giveth drink -- as the great deep.
16 He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!
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And bringeth out streams from a rock, And causeth waters to come down as rivers.
17 Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
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And they add still to sin against Him, To provoke the Most High in the dry place.
18 They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.
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And they try God in their heart, To ask food for their lust.
19 They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.
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And they speak against God -- they said: `Is God able to array a table in a wilderness?'
20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
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Lo, He hath smitten a rock, And waters flow, yea, streams overflow. `Also -- bread [is] He able to give? Doth He prepare flesh for His people?'
21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
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Therefore hath Jehovah heard, And He sheweth Himself wroth, And fire hath been kindled against Jacob, And anger also hath gone up against Israel,
22 for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.
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For they have not believed in God, Nor have they trusted in His salvation.
23 But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.
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And He commandeth clouds from above, Yea, doors of the heavens He hath opened.
24 He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.
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And He raineth on them manna to eat, Yea, corn of heaven He hath given to them.
25 They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.
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Food of the mighty hath each eaten, Venison He sent to them to satiety.
26 He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
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He causeth an east wind to journey in the heavens, And leadeth by His strength a south wind,
27 He rained down meat as thick as dust— birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
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And He raineth on them flesh as dust, And as sand of the seas -- winged fowl,
28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.
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And causeth [it] to fall in the midst of His camp, Round about His tabernacles.
29 The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.
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And they eat, and are greatly satisfied, And their desire He bringeth to them.
30 But before they satisfied their craving, while the meat was yet in their mouths,
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They have not been estranged from their desire, Yet [is] their food in their mouth,
31 the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.
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And the anger of God hath gone up against them, And He slayeth among their fat ones, And youths of Israel He caused to bend.
32 But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
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With all this they have sinned again, And have not believed in His wonders.
33 So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.
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And He consumeth in vanity their days, And their years in trouble.
34 When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.
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If He slew them, then they sought Him, And turned back, and sought God earnestly,
35 Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.
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And they remember that God [is] their rock, And God Most High their redeemer.
36 But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.
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And -- they deceive Him with their mouth, And with their tongue do lie to Him,
37 Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.
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And their heart hath not been right with Him, And they have not been stedfast in His covenant.
38 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!
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And He -- the Merciful One, Pardoneth iniquity, and destroyeth not, And hath often turned back His anger, And waketh not up all His fury.
39 For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.
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And He remembereth that they [are] flesh, A wind going on -- and it returneth not.
40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
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How often do they provoke Him in the wilderness, Grieve Him in the desolate place?
41 Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
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Yea, they turn back, and try God, And the Holy One of Israel have limited.
42 They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.
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They have not remembered His hand The day He ransomed them from the adversary.
43 They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
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When He set His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.
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And He turneth to blood their streams, And their floods they drink not.
45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.
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He sendeth among them the beetle, and it consumeth them, And the frog, and it destroyeth them,
46 He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.
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And giveth to the caterpillar their increase, And their labour to the locust.
47 He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.
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He destroyeth with hail their vine, And their sycamores with frost,
48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.
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And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames.
49 He loosed on them his fierce anger— all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.
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He sendeth on them the fury of His anger, Wrath, and indignation, and distress -- A discharge of evil messengers.
50 He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.
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He pondereth a path for His anger, He kept not back their soul from death, Yea, their life to the pestilence He delivered up.
51 He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.
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And He smiteth every first-born in Egypt, The first-fruit of the strong in tents of Ham.
52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.
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And causeth His people to journey as a flock, And guideth them as a drove in a wilderness,
53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.
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And He leadeth them confidently, And they have not been afraid, And their enemies hath the sea covered.
54 He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.
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And He bringeth them in unto the border of His sanctuary, This mountain His right hand had got,
55 He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.
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And casteth out nations from before them, And causeth them to fall in the line of inheritance, And causeth the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents,
56 But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.
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And they tempt and provoke God Most High, And His testimonies have not kept.
57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
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And they turn back, And deal treacherously like their fathers, They have been turned like a deceitful bow,
58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.
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And make Him angry with their high places, And with their graven images make Him zealous,
59 When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.
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God hath heard, and sheweth Himself wroth. And kicketh exceedingly against Israel.
60 Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.
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And He leaveth the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had placed among men,
61 He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
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And He giveth His strength to captivity, And His beauty into the hand of an adversary,
62 He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.
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And delivereth up to the sword His people, And with His inheritance shewed Himself angry.
63 Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.
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His young men hath fire consumed, And His virgins have not been praised.
64 Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.
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His priests by the sword have fallen, And their widows weep not.
65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.
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And the Lord waketh as a sleeper, As a mighty one crying aloud from wine.
66 He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.
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And He smiteth His adversaries backward, A reproach age-during He hath put on them,
67 But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
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And He kicketh against the tent of Joseph, And on the tribe of Ephraim hath not fixed.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.
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And He chooseth the tribe of Judah, With mount Zion that He loved,
69 There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.
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And buildeth His sanctuary as a high place, Like the earth, He founded it to the age.
70 He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.
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And He fixeth on David His servant, And taketh him from the folds of a flock,
71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel.
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From behind suckling ones He hath brought him in, To rule over Jacob His people, And over Israel His inheritance.
72 He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.
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And he ruleth them according to the integrity of his heart, And by the skilfulness of his hands leadeth them!