1. Give ear, O my people, to my law;Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2. I will open my mouth in a parable;I will utter dark sayings of old,
3. Which we have heard and known,And our fathers have told us.
4. We will not hide them from their children,Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
5. 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;
6. That the generation to come might know them,The children who would be born,That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7. That they may set their hope in God,And not forget the works of God,But keep His commandments;
8. And may not be like their fathers,A stubborn and rebellious generation,A generation that did not set its heart aright,And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,Turned back in the day of battle.
10. They did not keep the covenant of God;They refused to walk in His law,
11. And forgot His worksAnd His wonders that He had shown them.
12. Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.