Attend, my peo­ple, to my law;
Thereto give thou an ear;
The words that from my mouth pro­ceed
Attentively do hear.

My mouth shall speak a pa­ra­ble,
And say­ings dark of old;
The same which we have heard and known,
Ev’n as our fa­thers told.

We will not from their child­ren hide
The won­ders done by Thee;
To ge­ne­ra­tions yet to come
These things de­clare will we.

The prais­es of the Lord our God,
And His al­migh­ty strength,
The won­drous works that He hath done,
We will show forth at length.

His tes­ti­mo­ny and His law
In Is­ra­el He did place,
And charged our fa­thers it to show
To their suc­ceed­ing race;

That so the race which was to come
These things might learn and know;
And sons un­born, who should arise,
Might to their sons them show:

That they might set their hope in God,
And suf­fer not to fall
His migh­ty works out of their mind,
But keep His pre­cepts all:

And might not, like their fa­thers, be
A stiff re­bel­li­ous race;
A race not right in heart with God
Whose spi­rit faith­less was.

The sons of Eph­ra­im, who nor bows
Nor oth­er arms did lack,
When as the day of bat­tle was,
Yet faint­ly turnèd back.

They broke God’s co­ve­nant, and re­fused
In His com­mands to go;
His works and won­ders they for­got,
Which He to them did show.

Things mar­vel­ous He brought to pass;
Their fa­thers them be­held
Within the land of Egypt done,
Yea, ev­en Zo­an’s field.

By Him di­vid­ed was the sea,
He led them through the flood;
The wa­ters on each side He raised,
Till as a heap they stood.

With cloud by day, with light of fire
All night He did them guide.
In de­sert, rocks He cleft, and drink,
As from great depths, sup­plied.

He al­so from the rock brought streams,
Like floods made wa­ters run.
Yet, sin­ning more, in de­sert they
Provoked the High­est One.

For in their heart they tempt­ed God,
And, speak­ing with mis­trust,
They greed­ily did meat re­quire
To sa­tis­fy their lust.

Against the Lord Him­self they spake,
And, mur­mur­ing, said thus,
A ta­ble in the wil­der­ness
Can God pre­pare for us?

Behold, He smote the rock, and thence
Came streams and wa­ters great;
But can He give His peo­ple bread?
And send them flesh to eat?

Jehovah heard, His wrath arose:
Then kin­dled was a flame
On Ja­cob, and on Is­ra­el
His in­dig­na­tion came.

For they be­lieved not God, nor trust
In His sal­va­tion had;
Though clouds above He did com­mand,
And Heav’n’s doors op­en made,

And man­na rained on them, and gave
Them corn of Heav’n to eat.
Man an­gels’ food did eat; to them
He to the full sent meat.

He in the hea­ven also caused
An east­ern wind to blow;
And by His pow­er He let out
The south­ern wind to go.

Then flesh He rained on them like dust
Which can­not num­bered be;
And fea­thered fowls in num­bers vast
Like sands along the sea.

At His com­mand, amid their camp
The flesh in show­ers fell;
On ev­ery side it fell about
The tents where they did dwell.

So they did eat abun­dant­ly,
And had of meat their fill;
For He did give to them what was
Their own de­sire and will.

They from their lust had not es­tranged
Their heart and their de­sire;
But while the meat was in their mouths,
Which they did so re­quire,

God’s wrath upon them came, and slew
The fat­test of them all;
And so the choice of Is­ra­el,
O’erthrown by death, did fall.

Yet af­ter all the Lord had done
They still went on in sin;
Nor did be­lieve, al­though His works
So won­der­ful had been.

He there­fore did in va­ni­ty
Their days con­sume and waste;
And by His wrath their wretch­ed years
Away in trou­ble passed.

But when He slew them, then they did
To seek Him show de­sire;
Yea, they re­turned, and af­ter God
Did ear­nest­ly in­quire.

And that the Lord had been their Rock,
They did re­mem­ber then;
And that the high al­migh­ty God
Had their Re­deem­er been.

Yet with their mouth they flat­tered Him,
And with their tongues they lied;
Their heart was not sin­cere; they from
His co­ve­nant turned aside.

But, full of pi­ty, He for­gave
Their sin, nor did them slay;
Nor stirred up all His wrath, but oft
His an­ger turned away.

For that they were but fad­ing flesh
To mind He did re­call;
A wind that pass­eth soon away,
And ne’er re­turns at all.

How oft­en in the wil­der­ness
Did they pro­voke His wrath!
How oft­en grieved Him, as they marched
Along their de­sert path!

Yea, turn­ing back, they tempt the Lord,
And bold­ly li­mits place
About the high and ho­ly One—
The God of Is­ra­el’s race.

And they re­mem­bered not His hand
Nor yet the not­ed day
When He re­deemed them from the foe
Who sought them for his prey.

Nor how great signs in Egypt land
He op­en­ly had wrought;
What mi­ra­cles in Zo­an’s field
His hand to pass had brought.

How He their ri­vers and their lakes
Turned ev­ery­where to blood;
That nei­ther man nor beast could drink
Of stand­ing lake or flood.

Devouring flies, of di­vers sorts,
The Lord among them brought;
And swarms of frogs o’er all the land,
Which great de­struct­ion wrought.

He to the ca­ter­pil­lar gave
The fruits of all their soil;
He gave the la­bors of their hands
To be the lo­cust’s spoil.

Their vines with hail, their sy­ca­mores
He with the frost did blast:
Their beasts to hail He gave; their flocks
Hot thun­der­bolts did waste.

He cast up­on them an­ger fierce;
To burn­ing wrath gave vent;
In in­dig­na­tion trou­bled them
By ev­il an­gels sent.

He did not spare their soul from death
But for His wrath made way;
And to the fear­ful pes­ti­lence
He gave their life a prey.

And ov­er Egypt’s land He smote
Their first born, and their pride,
Till ev­ery­where in tents of Ham
Their chief of strength had died.

But forth from these like sheep He brought
His own, His chos­en band,
And led His peo­ple like a flock
Across the de­sert land.

And on their jour­ney He them led,
Secure from ev­ery fear,
But by the sea’s o’er­whelm­ing waves
Their ene­mies co­vered were.

To bor­ders of His ho­ly place
The Lord His peo­ple brought,
Ev’n to the mount­ain which for them
His own right hand had bought.

The na­tions which in Ca­naan dwelt,
He also by His hand,
Before His peo­ple’s face, ex­pelled
Beyond their na­tive land;

Which for in­he­ri­tance to them
By line He did di­vide,
And made the tribes of Is­ra­el
Within their tents abide.

But God most high they did pro­voke,
They tempt­ed Him again;
His tes­ti­mo­nies to ob­serve
Their will did not in­cline.

But, like their fa­thers, they turned back,
In faith­less­ness and pride,
And like a false, de­ceit­ful bow,
They all were turned aside.

Because to an­ger they pro­voked
The Lord with plac­es high,
And with their grav­en im­ag­es
Moved Him to jea­lou­sy.

When God heard this, He ang­ry was,
And much loathed Is­ra­el then:
So Shi­loh’s tent He left, the tent
Which He had placed with men.

And He His strength de­liv­ered o’er
To long cap­ti­vi­ty;
He left His glo­ry in the hand
Of His proud ene­my.

His peo­ple al­so to the sword
In an­ger o’er He turned:
Against His own in­he­ri­tance
His wrath so fierce­ly burned.

The fire con­sumed their choice young men;
Their maids no mar­riage had;
And when their priests fell by the sword,
Their wives no mourn­ing made.

But then the Lord arose, as one
That doth from sleep awake;
And like a gi­ant that, by wine
Refreshed, a shout doth make.

And on the backs of flee­ing foes
He caused His strokes to fall,
And to re­proach per­pe­tu­al
He put His ene­mies all.

Moreover, Jo­seph’s tent He spurned,
Nor Eph­ra­im’s tribe ap­proved;
But Ju­dah’s tent Je­ho­vah chose,
The Zi­on Mount he loved.

And like the firm and lof­ty hills
He built His ho­ly place;
Yea, strong as earth’s foun­da­tion fast,
He gave it change­less base.

Of Da­vid as His ser­vant then
His so­ve­reign choice did make,
And him, from out the folds of sheep,
The Lord was pleased to take.

From wait­ing on the suck­ling ewes,
He brought him forth to feed
His Is­ra­el, His in­he­ri­tance,
His peo­ple, Ja­cob’s seed.

So with in­te­gri­ty of heart
He did them wise­ly feed;
And with His skill­ful­ness of hands
He did them safe­ly lead.