2 Eu hei-de abrir a minha boca para contar as instrutivas lições que nos dá a história do nosso passado.
3 E como os problemas que se levantaram aos nossos avós, servem para nos ensinar a nós. Coisas que já ouvimos e que sabemos bem, e que os nossos pais já nos contaram.
4 Por nossa parte também não deixaremos de as contar aos nossos vindouros, e de mostrar às gerações futuras as coisas pelas quais o Senhor é bem digno de ser louvado: o seu poder e todos os seus milagres.
5 Porque Deus deu a sua revelação a Jacob, as suas leis a Israel, e mandou que os nossos pais as dessem a conhecer aos seus filhos,
6 a fim de que todas as gerações que viessem a seguir as soubessem. E foi assim que tudo passou de geração em geração.
7 Pois era necessário que a sua esperança se baseasse em Deus, que não se esquecessem das suas obras maravilhosas, que sempre guardassem os seus mandamentos, que não fossem como seus antepassados, gente teimosa e rebelde que não soube entregar o seu coração a Deus e subordinar-lhe fielmente o seu espírito.
13 Pois dividiu o mar em dois e os fez passar pelo meio. Fez com que as águas se amontoassem de um lado e doutro do caminho por onde atravessaram!
14 De dia guiava-os com uma nuvem branca, e de noite com um clarão de fogo.
15 Fez as rochas abrirem-se para lhes dar água, que correu com a abundância de um verdadeiro rio.
16 Fez fontes a saírem mesmo das rochas, donde brotaram caudais de água.
17 Pois mesmo assim continuaram a pecar, e não tiveram medo de ali, no deserto, desafiar a severidade do Deus que está acima de tudo.
18 Queixaram-se, exigindo que Deus lhes desse outra comida, pois apetecia-lhes carne.
19 E revoltavam-se dizendo que Deus não conseguiria certamente dar-lhe uma comida decente ali naquele deserto.
20 E o certo é que o Senhor mandou bater numa rocha e saiu água! E era tanta que formava um rio! Mas mesmo assim continuaram na ideia deles: Sim, mas pão que seja pão, e carne verdadeira, poderá ele dar-nos?
21 Então o Senhor, ouvindo isto, indignou-se muito, e exaltou-se contra Israel.
22 Pois não foram capazes de acreditar no próprio Deus, e na sua capacidade para os salvar.
25 Foi assim que puderam comer a comida dos anjos, e tanta quanta queriam!
29 E o povo comeu até se fartar. Tiveram o que desejavam.
30 Contudo, ainda mal tinham satisfeito o seu apetite, quando ainda tinham aquela comida na boca,
31 Deus resolveu intervir, e matou os mais fortes de entre eles, a elite de Israel!
32 Pois nem mesmo assim deixaram de pecar, e continuaram sem compreender, sem ligar aos milagres do Senhor.
33 Por isso ele reduziu as suas vidas a um tempo sem sentido e cheio de angústias.
36 No entanto, o culto que lhe prestavam era só de boca. No fundo mentiam-lhe!
37 Os seus corações não eram rectos para com Deus, não foram fiéis às suas promessas.
38 Mas Deus, que é extremamente bondoso, perdoou-lhes a maldadee não os destruiu todos. Antes frequentemente suspendeu a aplicação do rigor da sua justiça, e da sua indignação.
39 Porque se lembrava de que eram meros humanos, mortais, que desaparecem num momento, como um vento que sopra e não volta.
40 Oh! Quantas vezes eles ofenderam Deus no deserto.
41 Tantas vezes recuaram, e fizeram, conscientemente, com que o Senhor os tivesse de castigar. Depois, duvidavam constantemente do santo de Israel.
42 Esqueciam-se da força que tem a sua mão, e de tudo o que já tinha feito para os livrar dos adversários.
43 Esqueceram-se dos milagres que fez no Egipto, e das maravilhas que fez acontecer nos campos de Zoã,
44 como transformou em sangue as águas dos rios, de modo que ninguém podia matar a sede.
45 E como mandou grandes enxames de moscas que cobriram a terra, e também rãs que encheram todo o Egipto!
46 As lagartas comeram-lhes as plantas, e os gafanhotos levaram-lhes todo o produto do seu trabalho.
47 Destruiu-lhes as vinhas e as figueiras com a saraiva.
48 Também o gado foi morto pelo granizo, e os rebanhos desvastados pelos raios.
49 Desencadeou sobre eles toda a intensidade da sua severidade e indignação; mandou-lhes a angústia.
50 Deu livre curso à sua cólera, e não lhes poupou a vida, mas deixou-os entregues às doenças, às pestes.
51 Depois tirou a vida do filho mais velho de cada família egípcia, aqueles que constituíam a força dessa raça.
52 Contudo conduziu o seu próprio povo através do deserto, como um pastor que leva o rebanho.
53 E guiou-os com segurança, para não terem de recear coisa alguma. Em contrapartida, os adversários do seu povo, o mar os cobriu.
54 E conduziu-os até à entrada daquela terra de bênçãos que lhes tinha destinado, que com o seu poder tinha reservado para eles.
55 Expulsou as nações que ocupavam essa terra, e a repartiu proporcionalmente por cada uma das tribos de Israel.
56 Contudo continuaram a revoltar-se contra o Deus que está acima de tudo, e recusaram-se a obedecer aos seus mandamentos.
57 E até alguns recusaram entrar na terra prometida e foram desobedientes como os seus pais. Portaram-se tal como um arco cuja flecha se vira contra o atirador.
58 Fizeram levantar a cólera de Deus, levantando altares a outros deuses e fazendo imagens para adorarem.
59 Ao ver isto Deus ficou altamente indignado e aborrecido com Israel.
62 Deixou que o seu povo fosse chacinado, porque estava irado intensamente.
63 Os seus jovens foram mortos pelo fogo, e as raparigas calaram as suas canções de noivas, antes de atingirem a idade do casamento.
64 Os sacerdotes foram assassinados, e as suas viúvas não puderam chorá-los.
65 Até que o Senhor se levantou, como se despertasse dum sono, ou como um guerreiro que recobra os sentidos, depois de uma noite de festa.
69 E ali construiu um célebre templo, sólido e durável como os céus e a Terra.
70 Também escolheu David para o servir, tirando-o de guarda aos rebanhos de seu pai.
71 E David deixou as ovelhas e os cordeirinhos, para ser o pastor de Jacob, o povo de Deus, e de Israel, propriedade de Deus.
72 E conduziu esse rebanho do Senhor com habilidade e segurança.
1 Maschil 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 gush out 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 sons, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And his strength, and his wondrous 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 sons;
6 That the generation to come might know [them], even the sons who should be born; Who should arise and tell [them] to their sons,
7 That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,
8 And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set their heart aright, And whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9 The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law;
11 And they forgot his doings, And his wondrous works that he had shown them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tried God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.
19 Yes, they spoke against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Look, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel;
22 Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in his salvation.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven;
24 And he rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also on them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations.
29 So they ate, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire.
30 They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths,
31 When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still, And did not believe in his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days he consumed in vanity, And their years in terror.
34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 But he, being merciful, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: Yes, many a time he turned his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath.
39 And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and does not come again.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, And grieved him in the desert!
41 And they turned again and tried God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43 How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, And their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycamore-trees with frost.
48 He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil.
50 He made a path for his anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,
51 And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten.
55 He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And caused the tribes of Israel to stay in their tents.
56 Yet they tried and rebelled against the Most High God, And did not keep his testimonies;
57 But turned back, and betrayed [him] like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard [this], he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel;
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which he made a place to stay among man;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, And his glory into the adversary's hand.
62 He gave his people over also to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance.
63 Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; And their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66 And he struck his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph, And did not choose 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 has established forever.
70 He chose David also his slave, And took him from the sheepfolds:
71 From following the ewes that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.