| Give ear, O my people, to my law:
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| incline your ears to the words of my mouth. |
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| I will open my mouth in a parable:
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| I will utter dark sayings of old: |
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| which we have heard and known,
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| and our fathers have told us. |
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| We will not hide them from their children,
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| showing 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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| For he established a testimony in Jacob,
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| and appointed a law in Israel, |
| which he commanded our fathers, |
| that they should make them known to their children: |
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| that the generation to come might know them,
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| even the children which should be born; |
| who should arise and declare them to their children: |
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| that they might set their hope in God,
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| and not forget the works of God, |
| but keep his commandments: |
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| and might not be as their fathers,
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| a stubborn and rebellious generation; |
| a generation that set not their heart aright, |
| and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. |
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| The children of E'phra-im,
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| being armed, and carrying bows, |
| turned back in the day of battle. |
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| They kept not the covenant of God,
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| and refused to walk in his law; |
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| and forgot his works,
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| and his wonders that he had showed them. |
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| Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
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| in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zo'an. |
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| He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through;
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| and he made the waters to stand as a heap. |
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| In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,
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| and all the night with a light of fire. |
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| He clave the rocks in the wilderness,
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| and gave them drink as out of the great depths. |
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| He brought streams also out of the rock,
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| and caused waters to run down like rivers. |
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| And they sinned yet more against him
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| by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. |
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| And they tempted God in their heart
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| by asking meat for their lust. |
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| Yea, they spake against God;
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| they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? |
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| Behold, he smote the rock,
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| 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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| Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth:
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| so a fire was kindled against Jacob, |
| and anger also came up against Israel; |
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| because they believed not in God,
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| and trusted not in his salvation: |
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| though he had commanded the clouds from above,
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| and opened the doors of heaven, |
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| and had rained down manna upon them to eat,
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| and had given them of the corn of heaven. |
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| Man did eat angels' food:
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| he sent them meat to the full. |
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| He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:
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| and by his power he brought in the south wind. |
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| He rained flesh also upon them as dust,
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| and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: |
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| and he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
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| round about their habitations. |
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| So they did eat, and were well filled:
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| for he gave them their own desire; |
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| they were not estranged from their lust:
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| but while their meat was yet in their mouths, |
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| the wrath of God came upon them,
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| and slew the fattest of them, |
| and smote down the chosen men of Israel. |
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| For all this they sinned still,
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| and believed not for his wondrous works. |
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| Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
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| and their years in trouble. |
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| When he slew them, then they sought him:
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| and they returned and inquired early after God. |
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| And they remembered that God was their rock,
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| and the high God their redeemer. |
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| Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth,
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| and they lied unto him with their tongues. |
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| For their heart was not right with him,
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| neither were they steadfast in his covenant. |
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| But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
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| 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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| For he remembered that they were but flesh;
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| a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. |
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| How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
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| and grieve him in the desert! |
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| Yea, they turned back and tempted God,
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| and limited the Holy One of Israel. |
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| They remembered not his hand,
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| nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy: |
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| how he had wrought his signs in Egypt,
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| and his wonders in the field of Zo'an: |
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| and had turned their rivers into blood;
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| and their floods, that they could not drink. |
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| He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;
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| and frogs, which destroyed them. |
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| He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,
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| and their labor unto the locust. |
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| He destroyed their vines with hail,
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| and their sycamore trees with frost. |
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| He gave up their cattle also to the hail,
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| and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. |
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| He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
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| wrath, and indignation, and trouble, |
| by sending evil angels among them. |
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| He made a way to his anger;
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| he spared not their soul from death, |
| but gave their life over to the pestilence; |
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| and smote all the firstborn in Egypt;
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| the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: |
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| but made his own people to go forth like sheep,
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| and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. |
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| And he led them on safely, so that they feared not:
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| but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. |
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| And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
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| even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. |
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| He cast out the heathen also before them,
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| and divided them an inheritance by line, |
| and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. |
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| Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God,
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| and kept not his testimonies: |
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| but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers:
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| they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. |
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| For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
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| and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. |
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| When God heard this, he was wroth,
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| and greatly abhorred Israel: |
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| so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
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| the tent which he placed among men; |
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| and delivered his strength into captivity,
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| and his glory into the enemy's hand. |
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| He gave his people over also unto the sword;
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| and was wroth with his inheritance. |
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| The fire consumed their young men;
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| and their maidens were not given to marriage. |
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| Their priests fell by the sword;
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| and their widows made no lamentation. |
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| Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,
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| and like a mighty man that shouts by reason of wine. |
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| And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts:
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| he put them to a perpetual reproach. |
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| Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph,
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| and chose not the tribe of E'phra-im: |
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| but chose the tribe of Judah,
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| the mount Zion which he loved. |
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| And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,
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| like the earth which he hath established for ever. |
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| He chose David also his servant,
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| and took him from the sheepfolds: |
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| from following the ewes great with young
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| he brought him to feed Jacob his people, |
| and Israel his inheritance. |
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| So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;
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| and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. |
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