1 [An instruction. Of Asaph.] 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 riddles from of old,

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us:

4 We will not hide {them} from their sons, shewing forth to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his marvellous works which he hath 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 that should be born; that they might rise up and tell {them} to their children,

7 And that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of *God, but observe his commandments;

8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not stedfast with *God.

9 The sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.

10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

11 And forgot his doings, and his marvellous works which he had shewn them.

12 In the sight of their fathers had he done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.

13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; and made the waters to stand as a heap;

14 And he led them with a cloud in the daytime, and all the night with the light of fire.

15 He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave {them} drink as out of the depths, abundantly;

16 And he brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert;

18 And they tempted *God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;

19 And they spoke against God: they said, Is *God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?

21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel:

22 Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation;

23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,

24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.

25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.

26 He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind;

27 And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,

28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations:

29 And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.

30 They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths,

31 When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32 For all this, they sinned still, and believed not in his marvellous works;

33 And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after *God;

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and *God, the Most High, their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;

37 For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

38 But he was merciful: he forgave the iniquity, and destroyed {them} not; but many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his fury:

39 And he remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and cometh not again.

40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41 And they turned again and tempted *God, and grieved the Holy One of Israel.

42 They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,

43 How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan;

44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink;

45 He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them;

46 And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust;

47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones;

48 And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress, -a mission of angels of woes.

50 He made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51 And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham.

52 And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

53 And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies.

54 And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased;

55 And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 But they tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies,

57 And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow.

58 And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 God heard, and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60 And he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men,

61 And gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor;

62 And delivered up his people unto the sword, and was very wroth with his inheritance:

63 The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not praised in {nuptial} song;

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine;

66 And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach.

67 And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved;

69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever.

70 And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

71 From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.

1 Hino de Asaf. Escuta, ó meu povo, minha doutrina; às palavras de minha boca presta atenção.

2 Abrirei os lábios, pronunciarei sentenças, desvendarei os mistérios das origens.

3 O que ouvimos e aprendemos, através de nossos pais,

4 nada ocultaremos a seus filhos, narrando à geração futura os louvores do Senhor, seu poder e suas obras grandiosas.

5 Ele promulgou uma lei para Jacó, instituiu a legislação de Israel, para que aquilo que confiara a nossos pais, eles o transmitissem a seus filhos,

6 a fim de que a nova geração o conhecesse, e os filhos que lhes nascessem pudessem também contar aos seus.

7 Aprenderiam, assim, a pôr em Deus sua esperança, a não esquecer as divinas obras, a observar as suas leis;

8 e a não se tornar como seus pais, geração rebelde e contumaz, de coração desviado, de espírito infiel a Deus.

9 Os filhos de Efraim, hábeis no arco, voltaram as costas no dia do combate.

10 Não guardaram a divina aliança, recusaram observar a sua lei.

11 Eles esqueceram suas obras, e as maravilhas operadas ante seus olhos.

12 Em presença de seus pais, ainda em terras do Egito, ele fez grandes prodígios nas planícies de Tanis.

13 O mar foi dividido para lhes dar passagem, represando as águas, verticais como um dique;

14 De dia ele os conduziu por trás de uma nuvem, e à noite ao clarão de uma flama.

15 Rochedos foram fendidos por ele no deserto, com torrentes de água os dessedentara.

16 Da pedra fizera jorrar regatos, e manar água como rios.

17 Entretanto, continuaram a pecar contra ele, e a se revoltar contra o Altíssimo no deserto.

18 Provocaram o Senhor em seus corações, reclamando iguarias de suas preferências.

19 E falaram contra Deus: Deus será capaz de nos servir uma mesa no deserto?

20 Eis que feriu a rocha para fazer jorrar dela água em torrentes. Mas poderia ele nos dar pão e preparar carne para seu povo?

21 O Senhor ouviu e se irritou: sua cólera se acendeu contra Jacó, e sua ira se desencadeou contra Israel,

22 porque não tiveram fé em Deus, nem confiaram em seu auxílio.

23 Contudo, ele ordenou às nuvens do alto, e abriu as portas do céu.

24 Fez chover o maná para saciá-los, deu-lhes o trigo do céu.

25 Pôde o homem comer o pão dos fortes, e lhes mandou víveres em abundância,

26 depois fez soprar no céu o vento leste, e seu poder levantou o vento sul.

27 Fez chover carnes, então, como poeira, numerosas aves como as areias do mar,

28 As quais caíram em seus acampamentos, ao redor de suas tendas.

29 Delas comeram até se fartarem, e satisfazerem os seus desejos.

30 Mas apenas o apetite saciaram, estando-lhes na boca ainda o alimento,

31 desencadeia-se contra eles a cólera divina, fazendo perecer a sua elite, e prostrando a juventude de Israel.

32 Malgrado tudo isso, persistiram em pecar, não se deixaram persuadir por seus prodígios.

33 Então, Deus pôs súbito termo a seus dias, e seus anos tiveram repentino fim.

34 Quando os feria, eles o procuravam, e de novo se voltavam para Deus.

35 E se lembravam que Deus era o seu rochedo, e que o Altíssimo lhes era o salvador.

36 Mas suas palavras enganavam, e lhe mentiam com a sua língua.

37 Seus corações não falavam com franqueza, não eram fiéis à sua aliança.

38 Mas ele, por compaixão, perdoava-lhes a falta e não os exterminava. Muitas vezes reteve sua cólera, não se entregando a todo o seu furor.

39 Sabendo que eles eram simples carne, um sopro só, que passa sem voltar.

40 Quantas vezes no deserto o provocaram, e na solidão o afligiram!

41 Recomeçaram a tentar a Deus, a exasperar o Santo de Israel.

42 Esqueceram a obra de suas mãos, no dia em que os livrou do adversário,

43 quando operou seus prodígios no Egito e maravilhas nas planícies de Tânis;

44 quando converteu seus rios em sangue, a fim de impedi-los de beber de suas águas;

45 quando enviou moscas para os devorar e rãs que os infestaram;

46 quando entregou suas colheitas aos pulgões, e aos gafanhotos o fruto de seu trabalho;

47 quando arrasou suas vinhas com o granizo, e suas figueiras com a geada;

48 quando extinguiu seu gado com saraivadas, e seus rebanhos pelos raios;

49 quando descarregou o ardor de sua cólera, indignação, furor, tribulação, um esquadrão de anjos da desgraça.

50 Deu livre curso à sua cólera; longe de preservá-los da morte, ele entregou à peste os seres vivos.

51 Matou os primogênitos no Egito, os primeiros partos nas habitações de Cam,

52 enquanto retirou seu povo como ovelhas, e o fez atravessar o deserto como rebanho.

53 Conduziu-o com firmeza sem nada ter que temer, enquanto aos inimigos os submergiu no mar.

54 Ele os levou para uma terra santa, até os montes que sua destra conquistou.

55 Ele expulsou nações diante deles, distribuiu-lhes as terras como herança, fez habitar em suas tendas as tribos de Israel.

56 Mas ainda tentaram a Deus e provocaram o Altíssimo, e não observaram os seus preceitos.

57 Transviaram-se e prevaricaram como seus pais, erraram o alvo, como um arco mal entesado.

58 Provocaram-lhe a ira com seus lugares altos, e inflamaram-lhe o zelo com seus ídolos.

59 À vista disso Deus se encolerizou e rejeitou Israel severamente.

60 Abandonou o santuário de Silo, tabernáculo onde habitara entre os homens.

61 Deixou conduzir cativa a arca de sua força, permitiu que a arca de sua glória caísse em mãos inimigas.

62 Abandonou seu povo à espada, e se irritou contra a sua herança.

63 O fogo devorou sua juventude, suas filhas não encontraram desponsório.

64 Seus sacerdotes pereceram pelo gládio, e as viúvas não choraram mais seus mortos.

65 Então, o Senhor despertou como de um sono, como se fosse um guerreiro dominado pelo vinho.

66 E feriu pelas costas os inimigos, infligindo-lhes eterna igomínia.

67 Rejeitou o tabernáculo de José, e repeliu a tribo de Efraim.

68 Mas escolheu a de Judá e o monte Sião, monte de predileção.

69 Construiu seu santuário, qual um céu, estável como a terra, firmada para sempre.

70 Escolhendo a Davi, seu servo, e o tomando dos apriscos das ovelhas.

71 Chamou-o do cuidado das ovelhas e suas crias, para apascentar o rebanho de Jacó, seu povo, e de Israel, sua herança.

72 Davi foi para eles um pastor reto de coração, que os dirigiu com mão prudente.