¹ Give ear, O my people, to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
³ things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
⁵ He set up testimony for Jacob.
In Israel he established the law.
He commanded our fathers to make it known to their children.
⁶ Then the next generation would know it,
even the children not yet born.
They would rise up and tell their children.
⁷ Then they would put their confidence in God,
and they would not forget the deeds of God,
but they would keep his commands.
⁸ Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation that did not keep their hearts steadfast,
whose spirits were not faithful to God.

⁹ The tribe of Ephraim, equipped and armed with bows,
    deserted on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant, and they refused to walk in his law.
¹¹ They forgot his deeds, the wonders he had shown to them.

¹² In the presence of their fathers he had performed a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
¹³ He split the sea and let them cross through it.
He made the water stand like a wall.
¹⁴ He led them with the cloud by day
and all through the night with light from the fire.
¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness,
and he let them drink water as plentiful as the deep sea.
¹⁶ He brought streams out of the rocky cliff.
He made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against him even more,
    by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts by demanding food for their cravings.
¹⁹ Then they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able to set a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ Sure, he struck the rock and water flowed out,
and stream beds overflowed,
but can he really give us bread?
Can he really supply meat for his people?”

²¹ Then the Lord heard, and he showed his anger.
Fire broke out against Jacob,
and his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God,
and they did not trust in his salvation.

²³ Nevertheless, he gave a command to the skies above,
and he opened the doors of the heavens.
²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat,
and he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Each of them ate the bread of the mighty ones.
He sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶ He sent out the east wind from the heavens,
and he led out the south wind by his power.
²⁷ Then he rained meat down on them like dust,
and flying birds like sand on the seashore.
²⁸ He made the birds fall down inside their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹ Then they ate until they had more than enough,
for he had brought them what they craved.
³⁰ They had not yet turned away from what they craved.
Their food was still in their mouths.
³¹ Then God’s anger rose up against them.
He killed the strongest among them.
He cut down the best young men of Israel.
³² In spite of all this, they kept sinning,
and they did not believe in his wonders.
³³ So he ended their days in frustration ^[1]
and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever he struck them down, they would seek him.
Then they turned and sought God.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
³⁶ But then they would deceive him with their mouths,
and with their tongues they would lie to him.
³⁷ Their hearts were not committed to him,
and they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was compassionate.
He atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them.
Many times he restrained his anger,
and he did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He still remembered that they were only flesh,
like a wind that goes by and does not return.