Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
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.
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;
That the generation to come might know _them, even_ the children
_which_ should be born, _who_ should arise and declare _them_ to their
children:
That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of
God; but keep his commandments:
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.
The children of Ephraim, _being_ armed, _and_ carrying bows, turned
back in the day of battle.
They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of
Egypt, _in_ the field of Zoan.
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the
waters to stand as an heap.
In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with
a light of fire.
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave _them_ drink as _out
of_ the great depths.
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down
like rivers.
And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in
the wilderness.
And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust.
Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness?
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?
Therefore the LORD heard _this_, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled
against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.
Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation;
Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of
heaven,
And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the
corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.
He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he
brought in the south wind.
He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as
the sand of the sea;
And he let _it_ fall in the midst of their camp, round about their
habitations.
So they did eat and were well filled: for he gave them their own
desire;
They were not estranged from their lust: but while their meat _was_
yet in their mouths,
The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and
smote down the chosen _men_ of Israel.
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous
works.
Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in
trouble.
When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and
inquired early after God:
And they remembered that God _was_ their Rock, and the high God their
Redeemer.
Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto
him with their tongues:
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in
his covenant.
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:
For he remembered that they _were but_ flesh; a wind that passeth
away, and cometh not again.
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, _and_ grieve him in
the desert!
Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of
Israel.
They remembered not his hand, _nor_ the day when he delivered them
from the enemy:
How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of
Zoan:
And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they
could not drink.
He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and
frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour
unto the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with
frost.
He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot
thunderbolts.
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation,
and trouble, by sending evil angels _among them_.
He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but
gave their life over to the pestilence;
And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of _their_ strength
in the tabernacles of Ham:
But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the
wilderness like a flock.
And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea
overwhelmed their enemies.
And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, _even to_ this
mountain, _which_ his right hand had purchased.
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.
Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his
testimonies:
But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were
turned aside like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him
to jealousy with their graven images.
When God heard _this_, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent _which_ he
placed among men;
And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the
enemy’s hand.
He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his
inheritance.
The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to
marriage.
Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, _and_ like a mighty man that
shouteth by reason of wine.
And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a
perpetual reproach.
Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe
of Ephraim:
But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
And he built his sanctuary like high _palaces_, like
the earth which he hath established for ever.
He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
From following the ewes great with young he brought him, to feed Jacob
his people, and Israel his inheritance.
So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided
them by the skilfulness of his hands.
This Psalm, by a glorious instruction, in a long recital of the acts
of the children of Israel as examples, from the departure out of Egypt
down to David, teaches us to believe and trust in God: showing us, how
“very present” God always was to those who believed in him, in all
their perils, and even in the midst of death. And, on the other hand,
it shows us, how surely and terribly God always visited those who
despised his word and departed from him.
For, according to the words of the first commandment, God has, from
the beginning, wrought, not only in his own people, but in the
Gentiles also; and so he will work down to the world’s end; showing
mercy to those that love him, and visiting in judgment those that hate
him.
And although the world despises, more unconcernedly than all things
else, the threatenings of God and his promises also; yet,
nevertheless, God still goes on working, according to the words of his
first commandment; and that commandment still prevails over all the
kingdoms of the earth; laying prostrate kings, overturning kingdoms,
uprooting families, and blotting out mighty names. And, on the other
hand, the same commandment still and ever goes on, preserving those in
the church of God who love him; lifting up them that are down;
succouring the oppressed; feeding the poor, the captives, and the
exiles; loosing those that are in prison; raising the dead; and
bringing salvation.
The hardened and unbelieving world do not believe God: nevertheless,
this first commandment goes on thus according to the word which it
contains, to accomplish God’s will, in things private, and in things
public, in this present age, and throughout all the ages to come.