The Koine Bible

A contemplation of Asaph. Pay attention, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter problems from the beginning.

What we have heard and known, and our fathers told them to us.

They were not hidden from their children to another generation, telling the praises of the Lord and his mighty acts and his wonders which he did

And he raised up a testimony in Jacob and set a law in Israel, what things he commanded our fathers, to make them known to their sons

so that another generation might know, sons who will be born and will rise up and will declare them to their sons

that they might set their hope on God and not forget the works of God, and they will seek out his commandments

that they might not become like their fathers, a crooked and embittering generation, a generation which did not set its heart straight and whose spirit was not faithful with God

The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting with bows, turned back on the day of battle.

They did not keep the covenant of God, and in his law they were not willing to walk.

And they forgot his benefits and his wonders that he showed them

In the presence of their fathers, the things he did, wonders in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis

He split the sea and brought them through, he made the waters stand as if a wineskin.

And he guided them in a cloud by day and all the night in the light of fire

He split a rock in the wilderness and gave them drink as in a great deep

And he brought out water from a rock, and he brought down waters like rivers.

And they continued still to sin against him; they provoked the Most High in a waterless land.

And they tested God in their hearts, to ask food for their souls.

And they spoke against God and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

Since he struck the rock and waters flowed, and torrents overflowed, is he also able to give bread, or to prepare a table for his people?

Therefore the Lord heard and delayed, and fire was kindled in Jacob, and anger rose against Israel

because they did not believe in God, nor did they hope in his salvation

And he commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven

And he rained down manna for them to eat, and he gave them bread of heaven.

Man ate the bread of angels; he sent them provision unto fullness

He set forth a south wind from heaven, and by his power he brought in a southwest wind

And he rained flesh upon them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas

And they fell in the midst of their camp, around their tents.

And they ate and were filled exceedingly, and he brought their desire to them

They were not deprived of their desire, while their food was still in their mouth.

And the anger of God rose up against them, and he killed among their fat ones, and he cast down the chosen ones of Israel.

In all these things they still sinned and did not believe in his wondrous works

And their days vanished in vanity, and their years with haste.

When he was killing them, they sought him and turned back and rose early toward God

And they remembered that God is their helper, and that God Most High is their redeemer.

And they deceived him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him.

And their heart was not right with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.

But he is compassionate, and he will make propitiation for their sins, and he will not destroy, and he will multiply to turn away his anger, and he will not utterly kindle all his wrath

And he remembered that they are flesh, a spirit going and not returning.

How often they provoked him in the wilderness, they angered him in a waterless land

And they turned back and tested God, and they provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his hand, the day on which he redeemed them from the hand of the one afflicting them.

How he set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Tanis

And he turned their rivers into blood and their showers, so that they might not drink.

He sent among them swarms of flies, and it devoured them, and a frog, and it destroyed them.

And he gave their fruit to the blight and their labors to the locust

He killed their vine with hail and their sycamores with frost

And he gave over their cattle to hail and their substance to the fire

He sent upon them the anger of his wrath, fury and anger and affliction, a sending through evil angels

He made a way for his anger; he did not spare their lives from death, and he shut up their cattle to death

And he struck every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their labor pains in the tents of Ham.

And he took away his people like sheep, and he led them up like a flock in the wilderness

And he guided them in hope, and they did not be afraid, and the sea covered their enemies.

And he brought them into the border of his sanctuary, this mountain, which his right hand acquired

And he drove out nations from before them, and he apportioned them by line of inheritance, and he caused the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

And they tested and embittered God Most High, and they did not keep his testimonies.

And they turned back and dealt treacherously like their fathers also, and they turned aside into a crooked bow

And they provoked him to anger with their hills and with their carved images they moved him to jealousy

God heard and disregarded and utterly despised Israel

And he rejected the tent of Shiloh, his dwelling, where he tabernacled among men

And he gave over their strength into captivity and their beauty into the hands of an enemy

And he handed over his people to the sword and overlooked his inheritance

Their young men the fire devoured, and their virgins were not lamented.

Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows will not be wept for.

And the Lord awoke like one sleeping, like a mighty man made strong by wine

And he struck his enemies in the rear; he gave them everlasting disgrace

And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

And he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like the horns of unicorns; he founded it on the earth forever.

And he chose David his servant and took him up from the flocks of sheep

From after the nursing mothers he took him to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance

And he shepherded them in the innocence of his heart, and by the understandings of his hands he guided them