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Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
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I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,
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things we have heard and known, things that our ancestors told us.
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We 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.
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He 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,
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so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.
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In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments.
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They will 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.
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The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.
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They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law.
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They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform.
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While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
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He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls.
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By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire.
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He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths.
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He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river.
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But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
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They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.
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They spoke against God and said, "Can God supply food in the desert?
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It 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?"
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And so the LORD was angry when he heard them; he attacked his people with fire, and his anger against them grew,
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because they had no faith in him and did not believe that he would save them.
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But he spoke to the sky above and commanded its doors to open;
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he gave them grain from heaven, by sending down manna for them to eat.
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So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
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He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
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and to his people he sent down birds, as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
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they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
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So the people ate and were satisfied; God gave them what they wanted.
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But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating,
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when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.
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In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
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So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
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Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
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They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
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But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
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They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.
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But 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.
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He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.
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How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!
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Again and again they put God to the test and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
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They forgot his great power and the day when he saved them from their enemies
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and performed his mighty acts and miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
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He turned the rivers into blood, and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
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He sent flies among them, that tormented them, and frogs that ruined their land.
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He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.
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He killed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.
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He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.
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He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.
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He did not restrain his anger or spare their lives, but killed them with a plague.
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He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.
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Then he led his people out like a shepherd and guided them through the desert.
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He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
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He brought them to his holy land, to the mountains which he himself conquered.
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He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced; he divided their land among the tribes of Israel and gave their homes to his people.
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But they rebelled against Almighty God and put him to the test. They did not obey his commandments,
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but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.
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They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.
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God was angry when he saw it, so he rejected his people completely.
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He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.
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He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box, the symbol of his power and glory.
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He was angry with his own people and let them be killed by their enemies.
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Young men were killed in war, and young women had no one to marry.
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Priests died by violence, and their widows were not allowed to mourn.
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At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep; he was like a strong man excited by wine.
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He drove his enemies back in lasting and shameful defeat.
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But he rejected the descendants of Joseph; he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.
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Instead he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.
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There he built his Temple like his home in heaven; he made it firm like the earth itself, secure for all time.
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He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures,
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where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.
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David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill.
