1. 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 enigmas of old,
3. which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4. We will not hide them from their sons, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful 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 which should be born; who should arise and declare 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 forgot his works and his wonders that he had showed them.