To The Word – Day 44

₁Listen, my people, to my teaching,

and pay attention to what I say.

₂I am going to use wise sayings

and explain mysteries from the past,

₃things we have heard and known,

things that our ancestors told us.

₄We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell the next generation

about the LORD's power and his great deeds

and the wonderful things he has done.

₅He gave laws to the people of Israel

and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.

He instructed our ancestors

to teach his laws to their children,

₆so that the next generation might learn them

and in turn should tell their children.

₇In this way they also would put their trust in God

and not forget what he has done,

but always obey his commandments.

₈They would not be like their ancestors,

a rebellious and disobedient people,

whose trust in God was never firm

and who did not remain faithful to him.

₉The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,

ran away on the day of battle.

₁₀They did not keep their covenant with God;

they refused to obey his law.

₁₁They forgot what he had done,

the miracles they had seen him perform.

₁₂While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

₁₃He divided the sea and took them through it;

he made the waters stand like walls.

₁₄By day he led them with a cloud

and all night long with the light of a fire.

₁₅He split rocks open in the desert

and gave them water from the depths.

₁₆He caused a stream to come out of the rock

and made water flow like a river.

₁₇But they continued to sin against God,

and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.

₁₈They deliberately put God to the test

by demanding the food they wanted.

₁₉They spoke against God and said,

“Can God supply food in the desert?

₂₀It is true that he struck the rock,

and water flowed out in a torrent;

but can he also provide us with bread

and give his people meat?”

₂₁And so the LORD was angry when he heard them;

he attacked his people with fire,

and his anger against them grew,

₂₂because they had no faith in him

and did not believe that he would save them.

₂₃But he spoke to the sky above

and commanded its doors to open;

₂₄he gave them grain from heaven,

by sending down manna for them to eat.

₂₅So they ate the food of angels,

and God gave them all they wanted.

₂₆He also caused the east wind to blow,

and by his power he stirred up the south wind;

₂₇and to his people he sent down birds,

as many as the grains of sand on the shore;

₂₈they fell in the middle of the camp

all round the tents.

₂₉So the people ate and were satisfied;

God gave them what they wanted.

₃₀But they had not yet satisfied their craving

and were still eating,

₃₁when God became angry with them

and killed their strongest men,

the best young men of Israel.

₃₂In spite of all this the people kept sinning;

in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.

₃₃So he ended their days like a breath

and their lives with sudden disaster.

₃₄Whenever he killed some of them,

the rest would turn to him;

they would repent and pray earnestly to him.

₃₅They remembered that God was their protector,

that the Almighty came to their aid.

₃₆But their words were all lies;

nothing they said was sincere.

₃₇They were not loyal to him;

they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

₃₈But God was merciful to his people.

He forgave their sin

and did not destroy them.

Many times he held back his anger

and restrained his fury.

₃₉He remembered that they were only mortal beings,

like a wind that blows by and is gone.

₄₀How often they rebelled against him in the desert;

how many times they made him sad!

₄₁Again and again they put God to the test

and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.

₄₂They forgot his great power

and the day when he saved them from their enemies

₄₃and performed his mighty acts and miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

₄₄He turned the rivers into blood,

and the Egyptians had no water to drink.

₄₅He sent flies among them, that tormented them,

and frogs that ruined their land.

₄₆He sent locusts to eat their crops

and to destroy their fields.

₄₇He killed their grapevines with hail

and their fig trees with frost.

₄₈He killed their cattle with hail

and their flocks with lightning.

₄₉He caused them great distress

by pouring out his anger and fierce rage,

which came as messengers of death.

₅₀He did not restrain his anger

or spare their lives,

but killed them with a plague.

₅₁He killed the firstborn sons

of all the families of Egypt.

₅₂Then he led his people out like a shepherd

and guided them through the desert.

₅₃He led them safely, and they were not afraid;

but the sea came rolling over their enemies.

₅₄He brought them to his holy land,

to the mountains which he himself conquered.

₅₅He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;

he divided their land among the tribes of Israel

and gave their homes to his people.

₅₆But they rebelled against Almighty God

and put him to the test.

They did not obey his commandments,

₅₇but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors,

unreliable as a crooked arrow.

₅₈They angered him with their heathen places of worship,

and with their idols they made him furious.

₅₉God was angry when he saw it,

so he rejected his people completely.

₆₀He abandoned his tent in Shiloh,

the home where he had lived among us.

₆₁He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box,

the symbol of his power and glory.

₆₂He was angry with his own people

and let them be killed by their enemies.

₆₃Young men were killed in war,

and young women had no one to marry.

₆₄Priests died by violence,

and their widows were not allowed to mourn.

₆₅At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep;

he was like a strong man excited by wine.

₆₆He drove his enemies back

in lasting and shameful defeat.

₆₇But he rejected the descendants of Joseph;

he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.

₆₈Instead he chose the tribe of Judah

and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.

₆₉There he built his Temple

like his home in heaven;

he made it firm like the earth itself,

secure for all time.

₇₀He chose his servant David;

he took him from the pastures,

₇₁where he looked after his flocks,

and he made him king of Israel,

the shepherd of the people of God.

₇₂David took care of them with unselfish devotion

and led them with skill.

₁O God, the heathen have invaded your land.

They have desecrated your holy Temple

and left Jerusalem in ruins.

₂They left the bodies of your people for the vultures,

the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.

₃They shed your people's blood like water;

blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem,

and no one was left to bury the dead.

₄The surrounding nations insult us;

they laugh at us and mock us.

₅LORD, will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

₆Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you,

on the people who do not pray to you.

₇For they have killed your people;

they have ruined your country.

₈Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors.

Have mercy on us now;

we have lost all hope.

₉Help us, O God, and save us;

rescue us and forgive our sins

for the sake of your own honour.

₁₀Why should the nations ask us,

“Where is your God?”

Let us see you punish the nations

for shedding the blood of your servants.

₁₁Listen to the groans of the prisoners,

and by your great power free those who are condemned to die.

₁₂Lord, pay the other nations back seven times

for all the insults they have hurled at you.

₁₃Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock,

will thank you for ever

and praise you for all time to come.

₁Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel;

hear us, leader of your flock.

Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,

₂reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.

Show us your strength;

come and save us!

₃Bring us back, O God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

₄How much longer, LORD God Almighty,

will you be angry with your people's prayers?

₅You have given us sorrow to eat,

a large cup of tears to drink.

₆You let the surrounding nations fight over our land;

our enemies insult us.

₇Bring us back, Almighty God!

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

₈You brought a grapevine out of Egypt;

you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.

₉You cleared a place for it to grow;

its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.

₁₀It covered the hills with its shade;

its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.

₁₁It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea

and as far as the River Euphrates.

₁₂Why did you break down the fences round it?

Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;

₁₃wild pigs trample it down,

and wild animals feed on it.

₁₄Turn to us, Almighty God!

Look down from heaven at us;

come and save your people!

₁₅Come and save this grapevine that you planted,

this young vine you made grow so strong!

₁₆Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down;

look at them in anger and destroy them!

₁₇Preserve and protect the people you have chosen,

the nation you made so strong.

₁₈We will never turn away from you again;

keep us alive, and we will praise you.

₁₉Bring us back, LORD God Almighty.

Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.