God has chosen the Judah tribe
This is a song of Asaph.
1My people, you must listen
to what I teach you.
Listen carefully to what I tell you.
2I will teach you by telling stories.
I will tell you secrets
and things that happened long ago,
3things that we know because
our forefathers told us about them.
4We don't want to hide them
from our children.
We want to tell them to the young people
who will be the next generation.
We want to tell about
the wonderful things that
the Lord has done with his power,
and about the miracles that He has done for us.
5He gave his laws to the people of Jacob.
He told the people of Israel
what He wanted them to do.
He told our forefathers
how to teach their children.
6Then the children of
the next generation will know
what God wants and
their children will teach
their children who will be born later.
7Then they will trust in God to help them.
They will not forget what He
has done and they will do what He says.
8They will not be
like their forefathers,
because their forefathers were
stubborn and rebellious.
They did not believe in God
and they were unfaithful to Him.
9The people of Ephraim
went to war with their
bows_and_arrows,
but when the war started,
they ran away and fled.
10They did not do
what the covenant of God said,
and they did not want to live as He told them to.
11They forgot what God
had done for them,
and they forgot the miracles
that He had shown them.
12Their forefathers saw
the miracles that God did
in the land of Egypt,
the land where the town of Zoan is.
13He divided the water
and made a way through the sea
and let them walk through,
while the water was standing like a wall.
14God led his people
with a cloud in the day
and with the light of a fire in the night.
15God broke open rocks
in the desert and He gave
his people a lot of water to drink,
water that came from deep under the earth.
16He made streams of water
come from the rock,
and the water flowed like a river.
17But the people of Ephraim
continued to sin_against God.
They were rebellious_against
the Most High God when they were in the desert.
18They decided to test God
and asked Him to give them
the food that they wanted to eat.
19They spoke against God and said:
‘God can not give us food
to eat in the desert.
20Yes, He broke open a rock
and He made water flow out of it,
so that there was a river of water,
but God can not give us bread.
He is not able to bring us meat to eat.’
21That is why the Lord
became angry when
He heard them saying that.
It was like a fire that burnt
in Him against the people of Jacob.
He became angry
with the descendants of Israel.
22God became angry
because his people did not
believe that He could save them,
and they did not trust in Him to help them.
23But still He told the clouds above
to come and He opened the doors of heaven,
24and He sent manna to
fall on them like rain
so that they could eat.
He gave them bread from heaven.
25That was when people ate
bread of angels
when God sent them a lot of food,
more than enough.
26He, who is strong,
sent the eastern wind to blow
from heaven and then
the southern wind started blowing.
27He sent meat to fall
on them like rain and dust.
He sent birds, as many
as the sand of the sea.
28God made the birds fall
into the camp of the Israelites,
and they fell around their tents.
29The people ate and ate,
more than enough.
That is how God gave them
the food that they wanted to eat.
30But while they were still eating
and the food was still in their mouths,
31God became angry with them.
He killed their strongest men
and the young men of Israel
fell down and died.
32But after God had done all of this,
the people continued to sin,
and they did not believe that
it was He who had done those miracles.
33So God ended their worthless lives.
Their lives were full of worries and trouble
and then they disappeared.
34Every time God punished
some of the people and they died,
the other people turned to Him
and said they were sorry for their sins
and that they would do what He wanted.
35Then they said that
God was their Rock and that
He was the Most High God,
who was their Saviour.
36But their words were false,
and they told lies when they
said those things to Him.
37They did not_really believe in God,
and they did not want to do
what He had said in his covenant
that He had made with them.
38But God was merciful.
He forgave their sin,
and He did not cause them all to die.
He was good to them again
and He did not stay angry with them.
39He remembered that
they were only people,
and they were like the wind that
blows away and then is gone.
40They often rebelled_against Him,
and they made Him sad in the desert.
41They tested God again and again,
and they made the
holy God of Israel very sad.
42They did not remember
what He did when He
saved them from their enemies.
43They forgot the signs
that He gave in Egypt
and the miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44He made the river and streams
full of blood and the Egyptians
could not drink the water.
45He sent swarms of flies that bit them
and made them suffer.
He sent frogs that destroyed their land.
46He gave all their plants to the locusts,
and their wheat_fields
and gardens were destroyed.
47He sent hail-stones to
destroy their vineyards and frost
to destroy their fig trees.
48He sent hail-stones
to kill their cattle and lightning
to destroy their sheep and goats.
49God showed them how angry He was.
He wanted them to suffer a lot.
He sent angels_of_death to their homes.
50He was angry, very angry,
and He showed them how angry He was.
He did not save their lives.
He caused them to die from disease.
51He killed the firstborn son
of each Egyptian family,
in the land where
the people of Ham had lived before.
52But God led his own people
away like a shepherd leads his sheep
and He led them through the desert.
53He brought them to a place
where they would be safe
and didn't have to be afraid.
But their enemies drowned in the sea.
54God brought his people
into his Holy_Land,
to the mountain that He took
with his power.
55He chased other nations away
from their land so that his people
could live there.
He gave their land to the
tribes_of_Israel and let them live
in those other people's homes.
56But the Israelites tested
the Most High God again
and rebelled_against Him.
They did not do what He told them to do.
57They turned away from Him,
and they were disobedient
like their forefathers had been.
They were unfaithful, like a bow
that is broken and can not shoot straight.
58They made God angry because
they built places_of_sacrifice,
and they made Him jealous
because they worshipped_idols.
59When God saw what they were doing,
He became very angry and
He left the people of Israel
and did not want to listen to them again.
60He also left the temple in Shiloh
where He had stayed among the people.
61And when the enemies came
to take his covenant box,
He did not stop them.
This was the covenant box
where He showed his glory
and appeared to his people.
62He let his people be killed
in war and He punished them,
the people of his land.
63Their young men died in fires
and there was no one
to marry the young girls.
64Their priests died in war
and there was no time
for their widows to mourn.
65But then the Lord woke up
like someone who has been sleeping,
like someone who wakes up
after he has had too much wine.
66He beat his enemies.
He defeated them
and humiliated them forever.
67He left the people of the Joseph tribe.
He did not choose the Ephraim tribe again.
68But He chose the Judah tribe
and Mount_Zion which He loves.
69He built his temple high on the mountain.
He wanted it to stand there forever,
like heaven and earth.
70He chose his servant David
and took him away from the sheep.
71He took David away
from the lamb ewes
to be the shepherd of his people,
the children of Jacob,
the descendants of Israel.
72David ruled over them well,
and He was a wise king.
