1. Listen, my people, to my teaching;tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth.
2. I will open my mouth with a proverb.I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—
3. ones that we’ve heard and learned about,ones that our ancestors told us.
4. We won’t hide them from their descendants;we’ll tell the next generationall about the praise due the Lord and his strength—the wondrous works God has done.
5. He established a law for Jacoband set up Instruction for Israel,ordering our ancestorsto teach them to their children.
6. This is so that the next generationand children not yet born will know these things,and so they can rise up and tell their children
7. to put their hope in God—never forgetting God’s deeds,but keeping God’s commandments—
8. and so that they won’t become like their ancestors:a rebellious, stubborn generation,a generation whose heart wasn’t set firmand whose spirit wasn’t faithful to God.
9. The children of Ephraim, armed with bows,retreated on the day of battle.
10. They didn’t keep God’s covenant;they refused to walk in his Instruction.
11. They forgot God’s deedsas well as the wondrous works he showed them.
12. But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence—in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13. God split the sea and led them through,making the waters stand up like a wall.