I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

1(77:1) A Psalm of instruction for Asaph. Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

2(77:2) I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings which have been from the beginning.

3(77:3) All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us.

4(77:4) They were not hid from their children to a second generations; the fathers declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought.

5(77:5) And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children:

6(77:6) that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children.

7(77:7) That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments.

8(77:8) That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.

9(77:9) The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle.

10(77:10) They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law.

11(77:11) And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he had shewed them;

12(77:12) the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes.

13(77:13) He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle.

14(77:14) And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.

15(77:15) he clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep.

16(77:16) And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers.

17(77:17) And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness.

18(77:18) And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls.

19(77:19) They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

20(77:20) Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?

21(77:21) Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel.

22(77:22) Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.

23(77:23) Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24(77:24) and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven.

25(77:25) Man ate angels' bread; he sent them provision to the full.

26(77:26) He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind.

27(77:27) And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas.

28(77:28) And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents.

29(77:29) So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire.

30(77:30) They were not disappointed of their desire: but when their food was yet in their mouth,

31(77:31) then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel.

32(77:32) In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles.

33(77:33) And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety.

34(77:34) When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God.

35(77:35) And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer.

36(77:36) Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

37(77:37) For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38(77:38) But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy them: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger.

39(77:39) And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

40(77:40) How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and anger him in a dry land!

41(77:41) Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42(77:42) They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.

43(77:43) How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes:

44(77:44) and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink.

45(77:45) He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them.

46(77:46) And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust.

47(77:47) He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

48(77:48) And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire.

49(77:49) He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels.

50(77:50) He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death;

51(77:51) and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham.

52(77:52) And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness.

53(77:53) And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies.

54(77:54) And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased.

55(77:55) And he cast out the nations from before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56(77:56) Ye they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.

57(77:57) And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow.

58(77:58) And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59(77:59) God heard and lightly regarded them, and greatly despised Israel.

60(77:60) And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men.

61(77:61) And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy's hand.

62(77:62) And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance.

63(77:63) Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not.

64(77:64) Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for.

65(77:65) So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who has been heated with wine.

66(77:66) And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach.

67(77:67) And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

68(77:68) but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved.

69(77:69) And he built his sanctuary as the place of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth.

70(77:70) He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep.

71(77:71) He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

72(77:72) So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.