2. I will give instructionand explain the mysteryof what happened long ago.
3. These are things we learntfrom our ancestors,
4. and we will tell themto the next generation.We won't keep secretthe glorious deedsand the mighty miraclesof the Lord.
5. God gave his Lawto Jacob's descendants,the people of Israel.And he told our ancestorsto teach their children,
6. so that each new generationwould know his Lawand tell it to the next.
7. Then they would trust Godand obey his teachings,without forgetting anythingGod had done.
8. They would be differentfrom their ancestors,who were stubborn, rebellious,and unfaithful to God.
9. The warriors from Ephraimwere armed with arrows,but they ran awaywhen the battle began.
10. They broke their agreementwith God,and they turned their backson his teaching.
11. They forgot all he had done,even the mighty miracles
12. he did for their ancestorsnear Zoan in Egypt.
13. God made a path in the seaand piled up the wateras he led them across.
14. He guided them during the daywith a cloud,and each night he led themwith a flaming fire.
15. God made water flowfrom rocks he split openin the desert,and his people drank freely,as though from a lake.
16. He made streams gush outlike rivers from rocks.
17. But in the desert,the people of God Most Highkept sinning and rebelling.
18. They stubbornly tested Godand demanded from himwhat they wanted to eat.
19. They challenged God by saying,“Can God provide foodout here in the desert?
20. It's true God struck the rockand water gushed outlike a river,but can he give his peoplebread and meat?”