O my people hear all that I want to teach you,

Listen to what my mouth will unfold.

I will speak out in parables of hidden things,

Hidden things which we’ve heard from of old.

What we’ve heard, what we know,

what our fathers have said,

From our children we’ll not hide your word.

We will tell of his deeds to our children’s children:

All the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD.

All his power, the wonders that the LORD has done.

All his laws and his statutes decreed,

And established through Jacob and through Israel,

So the next generation take heed.

So that even the children that are yet unborn,

Will in their turn pass that knowledge on.

Then they will trust God and forget not his deeds,

Seeing all he commands is well done.

That they would not be as their forefathers were,

Rebellious and stubborn by turns.

Their hearts were not loyal or faithful to God,

Their spirits not willing to learn.

The men of Ephraim, though well armed with bows.

Turned back from the battle God planned.

They refused to keep all of God’s covenant word,

Or the laws God set down for their land.

They forgot what he’d done and the wonders he’d shown,

All the miracles done in the sight .

For in Zoan in Egypt they had been enslaved,

But God rescued them from their sad plight.

He divided the sea and he led them through it,

And the waters stood firm like a wall.

And he guided them by cloud in daylight’s long hours

And with fire light when night it did fall.

And he split open rocks in the desert’s dry place;

Gave them water abundant as seas.

Made the water flow down like a river in spate,

From the crags brought out swift flowing streams.

They continued to sin, rebelled ‘gainst the Most High,,

And they put God to test, through their greed.

They demanded the food that they craved with their hearts

Saying ,”Can God supply what we need”.

For when he struck the rock, water came gushing out

And in streams it flowed abundantly

But can he get meat in the desert for us?

When the Lord heard his anger broke free.

Then his fire broke out against all Jacob’s clan

And his wrath against all Israel’s men,

For they did not believe or put their trust in God

To bring safety; deliverance to them.

Yet he gave a command to the skies set above,

And he opened the wide doors into heaven.

And he rained down the manna for people to eat,

And he gave them the grain from high heaven.

Men ate of the bread of the angelic beings

All the food they could eat and devour.

But then he let loose the great east wind of heaven,

And he brought forth the south wind of power.

He rained down fresh meat, it came on them like dust,

Flying birds fell like sand on the shore.

And he made the birds come down where their tents lay pitched,

In the camp there was plenty and more.

Yes the food they had craved they were given in full

But before they had eaten their fill,

Whilst the food in their mouths was being eaten,

God in anger rose up for the kill.

Put to death, those who were fine sturdy warriors,

Cutting them down: the nation’s young men.

For God’s anger it had risen up against them,

And in Israel they’d not rise again.

Now in spite of all this they kept sinning ‘gainst God,

And despite wonders, would not believe.

So he ended their days; in futility spent

And in terror their last years did grieve.

Whenever God slew them, they would seek his face;

They would eagerly turn round again.

They remembered that God was their fortress, their Rock

God Most High the redeemer of men.

But then they would speak out with flattering words,

Lying to him with untruthful tongues

And they were unfaithful to his covenant

Their hearts would not turn from their wrongs.

Yet he was most merciful to them and kind,

Forgiving their iniquity,

And so God would not bring destruction on them

And kept them from calamity.

Time after time stayed his anger,

And his full wrath it was held at bay,

He remembered that they were of weak mortal flesh,

Like a breeze which is soon passed away.

They often grieved him in the wild desert waste

In the wilderness they did rebel.

And again and again put their God to the test

Vexed the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember the power he displayed

When he redeemed them from their foe.

The signs done in Egypt, in the fields of Zoan,

All the wonders that from him did flow.

He turned the Nile river from water to blood

So that they could not drink from its streams

And he sent out destruction through flies that did swarm

And with frogs the whole land soon would teem.

He gave all their crops to the grasshopper’s mouth,

The locust consumed all their food

He destroyed the grape vines and the sycamore figs

With hail and sleet, their crops were doomed.

He gave up their livestock to lightning bolts,

On cattle great hail storms were sent

His wrath and his anger unleashed against them

On destruction God’s anger was bent.

And he then made a path for his anger and wrath

And he did not spare them from their death,

Sent plagues and struck down all the firstborn young men

The sons of Ham breathed their last breath.

He brought out Israel, led them like a flock

Like sheep, through a bleak desert place

He guided them safely, they were not afraid.

And the sea engulfed all who made chase.

And so to the borders of the holy land,

To the hill country; drove nations out

Allotted their lands to all Israel’s tribes,

Of their future there could be no doubt.

But then they rebelled put their God to the test,

The laws of the Most High ignored.

Like their ancestors they were disloyal, faithless,

Like a bow that is faulty is flawed.

They angered him with their high places of earth

Their idols aroused jealousy.

When God heard about it, he was full of wrath

And abandoned Israel completely.

He abandoned his tent pitched at Shiloh of old

The tent where he’d chosen to dwell,

And Into captivity he sent the ark

And his glory went with it as well.

He was angry with his own inheritance,

His people gave up to the sword

His young men with fire were consumed on the spot

And their priests they were put to the sword.

And all their young women had no wedding songs

And their widows could not even weep

That day when God’s anger burst out against them

When his fury ‘gainst Israel ran deep.

Then the LORD did awake from the stupor of sleep

Like a warrior who’d drank too much wine.

And he beat back his enemies, put them to the rout

He put them to shame for all time.

He rejected the tribe which had Joseph as head

And he did not choose Ephraim’s tent

But instead chose the tribe of which Judah was head,

For his love to Mount Zion was bent.

And he built up his sanctuary like the high heaven,

Which he made stand through time like the earth.

And he did choose David his servant to be

From the sheepfold - a man of great worth.

From tending the sheepfold God brought him to be

A shepherd for all Israel,

And he shepherded them with a true upright heart

And his skilful hands served Israel well.

All this is true. This is for you God’s word.