Psalms:78-79
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Give ear ,
O my people ,
to my law :
incline your ears to the words of my mouth .
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I will open my mouth in a parable :
I will utter dark sayings of old :
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Which we have heard and known ,
and our fathers have told us .
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We will not hide them from their children ,
shewing 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 ,
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 ,
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 ,
and not forget the works of God ,
but keep his commandments :
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And might not be as their fathers ,
a stubborn and rebellious generation ;
a generation that set not their heart aright ,
and whose spirit was not stedfast with God .
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The children of Ephraim ,
being armed ,
and carrying bows ,
turned back in the day of battle .
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They kept not the covenant of God ,
and refused to walk in his law ;
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And forgat his works ,
and his wonders that he had shewed them .
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Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers ,
in the land of Egypt ,
in the field of Zoan .
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He divided the sea ,
and caused them to pass through ;
and he made the waters to stand as an heap .
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In the daytime also he led them with a cloud ,
and all the night with a light of fire .
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He clave the rocks in the wilderness ,
and gave them drink as out of the great depths .
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He brought streams also out of the rock ,
and caused waters to run down like rivers .
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And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness .
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And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust .
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Yea ,
they spake against God ;
they said ,
Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ?
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Behold ,
he smote the rock ,
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 :
so a fire was kindled against Jacob ,
and anger also came up against Israel ;
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Because they believed not in God ,
and trusted not in his salvation :
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Though he had commanded the clouds from above ,
and opened the doors of heaven ,
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And had rained down manna upon them to eat ,
and had given them of the corn of heaven .
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Man did eat angels '
food :
he sent them meat to the full .
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He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven :
and by his power he brought in the south wind .
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He rained flesh also upon them as dust ,
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 ,
round about their habitations .
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So they did eat ,
and were well filled :
for he gave them their own desire ;
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They were not estranged from their lust .
But while their meat was yet in their mouths ,
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The wrath of God came upon them ,
and slew the fattest of them ,
and smote down the chosen men of Israel .
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For all this they sinned still ,
and believed not for his wondrous works .
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Therefore their days did he consume in vanity ,
and their years in trouble .
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When he slew them ,
then they sought him :
and they returned and enquired early after God .
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And they remembered that God was their rock ,
and the high God their redeemer .
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Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth ,
and they lied unto him with their tongues .
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For their heart was not right with him ,
neither were they stedfast in his covenant .
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But he ,
being full of compassion ,
forgave their iniquity ,
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 ;
a wind that passeth away ,
and cometh not again .
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How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness ,
and grieve him in the desert !
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Yea ,
they turned back and tempted God ,
and limited the Holy One of Israel .
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They remembered not his hand ,
nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy .
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How he had wrought his signs in Egypt ,
and his wonders in the field of Zoan :
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And had turned their rivers into blood ;
and their floods ,
that they could not drink .
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He sent divers sorts of flies among them ,
which devoured them ;
and frogs ,
which destroyed them .
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He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller ,
and their labour unto the locust .
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He destroyed their vines with hail ,
and their sycomore trees with frost .
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He gave up their cattle also to the hail ,
and their flocks to hot thunderbolts .
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He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger ,
wrath ,
and indignation ,
and trouble ,
by sending evil angels among them .
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He made a way to his anger ;
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 ;
the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham :
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But made his own people to go forth like sheep ,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock .
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And he led them on safely ,
so that they feared not :
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies .
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And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary ,
even to this mountain ,
which his right hand had purchased .
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He cast out the heathen also before them ,
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 ,
and kept not his testimonies :
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But turned back ,
and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers :
they were turned aside like a deceitful bow .
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For they provoked him to anger with their high places ,
and moved him to jealousy with their graven images .
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When God heard this ,
he was wroth ,
and greatly abhorred Israel :
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So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh ,
the tent which he placed among men ;
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And delivered his strength into captivity ,
and his glory into the enemy '
s hand .
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He gave his people over also unto the sword ;
and was wroth with his inheritance .
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The fire consumed their young men ;
and their maidens were not given to marriage .
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Their priests fell by the sword ;
and their widows made no lamentation .
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Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep ,
and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine .
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And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts :
he put them to a perpetual reproach .
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Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph ,
and chose not the tribe of Ephraim :
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But chose the tribe of Judah ,
the mount Zion which he loved .
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And he built his sanctuary like high palaces ,
like the earth which he hath established for ever .
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He chose David also his servant ,
and took him from the sheepfolds :
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From following the ewes great with young 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 ;
and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands .
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O God ,
the heathen are come into thine inheritance ;
thy holy temple have they defiled ;
they have laid Jerusalem on heaps .
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The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven ,
the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth .
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Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem ;
and there was none to bury them .
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We are become a reproach to our neighbours ,
a scorn and derision to them that are round about us .
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How long ,
LORD ?
wilt thou be angry for ever ?
shall thy jealousy burn like fire ?
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Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee ,
and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name .
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For they have devoured Jacob ,
and laid waste his dwelling place .
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O remember not against us former iniquities :
let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us :
for we are brought very low .
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Help us ,
O God of our salvation ,
for the glory of thy name :
and deliver us ,
and purge away our sins ,
for thy name '
s sake .
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Wherefore should the heathen say ,
Where is their God ?
let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed .
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Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ;
according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die ;
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And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach ,
wherewith they have reproached thee ,
O Lord .
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So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever :
we will shew forth thy praise to all generations .
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Give ear ,
O Shepherd of Israel ,
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ;
thou that dwellest between the cherubims ,
shine forth .