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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 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 children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that 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, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

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 set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

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

11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

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

15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

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

17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

21 Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

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

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

25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

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

29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

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

38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

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

41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

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

51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully 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 wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

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

65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle 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 high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

<html><b>…my mouth with a parable</b> They are the words of Torah.</html>

<html><b>We shall not hide from their sons</b> We, too, shall not hide [these words] from our fathers’ sons by not letting them know what they told us.</html>

<html><b>their hope</b> Heb. כסלם, their hope, and so (Job 31:24): “If I made gold my hope (כסלי).”</html>

<html><b>as their forefathers</b> who were in Egypt and in the desert.</html>

<html><b>The sons of Ephraim</b> who left Egypt forcefully before the end [of the exile] and trusted in their might and in their arrows. Ultimately, they retreated and fled on the day of battle, as is delineated (I Chron. 7:21): “and the men of Gath, who were born in the land, slew them.” <b>archers</b> Heb. רומי, who cast and shoot, as (Exod. 15:1): “cast (רמה) into the sea.”</html>

<html><b>Before their forefathers He wrought wonders</b> (Nevertheless—Shem Ephraim) Afterwards, when the end arrived, they too “continued to sin against Him,” as he further concludes. (Another explanation—Shem Ephraim) <b>Before their forefathers</b> Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came beside the sea, and the Holy One, blessed be He, showed them how He was redeeming their children.</html>

<html><b>as a heap</b> Heb. נד, a tall heap, as Onkelos renders (Exod. 15:8): “the flowing water stood up like a נֵד,” stood up like a wall.</html>

<html><b>He split rocks</b> (Exod. 17:6): “and you shall strike the rock.” <b>and He gave them to drink as [from] great deeps</b> in the great deeps. Even as they went through the midst of the sea, whose waters are salty, He sweetened fountains for them in the midst of the sea.</html>

<html><b>and brought down water like rivers</b> [Water] that was flowing from the well. The princes would make a line with their staffs and the water would be drawn after them to the encampment of each tribe, as the matter that is stated (Num. 21:18): “by the order of the lawgiver, with their staffs,” as is explained in tractate Makkoth.</html>

<html><b>to provoke</b> Heb. למרות, to provoke, as (Deut. 9:7): “you have been provoking (ממרים).”</html>

<html><b>flesh</b> Heb. שְׁאֵר, flesh.</html>

<html><b>fire was kindled against Jacob</b> Heb. נשקה, as (Ezek. 39:9): “and make fires and heat up (והשיקו),” which is an expression of heating and burning. As it is written (Num. 11:1): “and God’s fire broke out against them.”</html>

<html><b>bread of the mighty</b> Bread of the angels. Another explanation: אַבִּירִים means אֵבָרִים, limbs, for it was absorbed into the limbs, and they did not have to excrete.</html>

<html><b>He caused the east wind to set forth</b> (Num. 11:31): “And a wind set forth from the Lord, and it made quails fly.”</html>

<html><b>They were not estranged from their desire</b> They did not become estranged from their desire, for they achieved all their desire. Another explanation: לא זרוּ מתאותם They were not distanced from their desire until the retribution came upon them. “While their food was still in their mouth, the wrath of the Lord (sic), etc.”</html>

<html><b>and…the chosen of Israel</b> The chosen of them and the men of the assembly, הָאסַפסוּף (Num. 11:4). They are the elders, as it is said (Num. 11:16): “Assemble (אספו) to Me, etc.”</html>

<html><b>When He slew them, etc.</b> Yet all this was not in truth, but with guile in their mouth and by lying with their tongue.</html>

<html><b>Their heart</b> was not sincere as with their mouth.</html>

<html><b>But He is merciful</b> to them and constantly expiates their iniquity, and He did not destroy them. <b>many times</b> Many times He withdraws His wrath from them, and even if He punishes them, He does not arouse all His anger but little by little, because He remembers that they are flesh and that the evil inclination is hidden in their heart. That is a spirit that goes away when they die, and that spirit does not return to them in the world to come. When they are resurrected, the evil inclination will have no control over them. “A spirit that goes away and does not return” cannot be explained to mean their spirit of life, because if you say so, you have denied the resurrection of the dead. In this manner, it is explained in Aggadath Tehillim (Mid Ps. 78:8).</html>

<html><b>How often</b> [How many] times <b>they provoked him</b> always in the desert.</html>

<html><b>they sought a sign</b> Heb. התוו, an expression of a sign, as (Ezek. 9:4): “and set a mark (והתוית תו) .” “A mark” is an expression of a wonder and a trial. They asked him for a sign and a mark (Exod. 17: 7): “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”</html>

<html><b>which mutilated them</b> They would pull off their testicles.</html>

<html><b>with locusts</b> Heb. בחנמל, the name of the locust. According to the Midrash (Mid. Ps. 78:13) [it is composed of the following words]: בָּא חָן מָל, it comes, encamps, and cuts. It cut off the greens of the tree and the grass and ate it.</html>

<html><b>He gave over their animals to hail</b> When the hail began to fall, the Egyptian drove his sheep (his animal) into the house, and the hail came before him like a wall. The Egyptian slaughtered it [the animal] and put it on his shoulder, to take it to his house to eat it, but the birds came and took it from him. That is [the meaning of] “and their cattle to the birds (לרשפים),” as (Job. 5:7): “but flying creatures (בני רשף) fly upward.” This is its midrashic interpretation (Mid. Ps. 78:14), but according to its simple meaning, רשפים are bolts of fire, as it is written (Exod. 9:24): “and fire flaming within the hail.”</html>

<html><b>He leveled a path for His anger</b> Although the plagues were dispatched in anger, they performed only their orders; what they were commanded to kill, they killed, but nothing else. They went in their paths. In other commentaries I found as follows: <b>He leveled a path for His anger</b> When He smote every firstborn in Egypt, He showed the way for [the angel] who was destroying with anger to enter the houses of the Egyptians, but not the houses of the children of Israel. <b>…and…their body</b> Heb. וחיתם, their body.</html>

<html><b>He drove out…from before them</b> the seven nations. <b>in their tents</b> of the nations.</html>

<html><b>Yet they tried and provoked</b> during the days of the judges.</html>

<html><b>like a deceitful bow</b> which does not shoot the arrow to the place the archer wishes.</html>

<html><b>He delivered His might into captivity</b> He delivered the Ark and the tablets into the hands of the Philistines.</html>

<html><b>Fire consumed his youths</b> [The fire of] His wrath. <b>were not married</b> Heb. לא הוללו. They were not married by being brought into a litter [under] a canopy because the youths died in battle. הוּלָלוּ is an expression of nuptials (הִלוּלָא) in Aramaic. Our Sages, however, explained it in reference to Nadab and Abihu (Mid. Ps. 78:18), but I feel uncertain about explaining it that way because he already commenced with the Tabernacle of Shiloh.</html>

<html><b>His priests fell by the sword</b> Hophni and Phinehas. <b>but his widows did not weep</b> Even his widow was not allowed to bewail him, for she too died on the day of the tidings, as it is said (I Sam. 4: 19): “And she knelt and gave birth, for her pains had suddenly come upon her.”</html>

<html><b>shouting</b> Heb. מתרונן, awaking and strengthening himself with speech to awaken from his wine. מתרונן is an expression of רנה, shouting.</html>

<html><b>And He smote His adversaries from the rear</b> Plagues of the rear with hemorrhoids, which is a disgrace of perpetual ridicule for them.</html>

<html><b>He rejected the tent of Joseph</b> That is Shiloh, which is in Joseph’s territory.</html>

<html><b>And He built His Sanctuary like the high heavens, etc.</b> Like the heavens and the earth, about which two hands are mentioned, as it is stated (Isa. 48:13): “Even My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured the heavens with handbreadths.” Also the Temple was with two hands, as it is said (Exod. 15:17): “Your hands established.” (Cf. Mechilta, Shirah 10, Keth. 5a, Rashi to Exod. 15:17.) Another explanation: <b>And He built His Sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth He established it</b> Just as heaven and earth have no substitute, neither does the Temple have a substitute in which to let the Shechinah rest.</html>

<html><b>and took him from the sheepcotes</b> Heb. ממכלאתצאן, from the stalls of the sheep, as (Hab. 3: 16): “The flock will be cut off from the fold (ממכלה).”</html>

<html><b>From behind the nursing ewes He brought him</b> For he would shepherd the nursing ewes for his father, because he was merciful and would bring the kids first and feed them the upper tips of the grasses, which are tender. Then after them he would bring out the he-goats, who would eat the middle of the grasses, and afterwards, he would bring out the older ones, who would eat the roots. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “This one is fit to shepherd My people.”</html>