Understanding for Asaph.
Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Intellectus Asaph.
Attendite, popule meus, legem meam; inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei.

(A maskil. Of Asaph.)
Listen, my people, to this testament of mine, do not turn a deaf ear to the words I utter;

I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.

Aperiam in parabolis os meum; loquar propositiones ab initio.

I speak to you with mysteries for my theme, read the riddles of long ago.

How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

Quanta audivimus, et cognovimus ea, et patres nostri narraverunt nobis.

It is a story often heard, well known among us; have not our fathers told it to us?

They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.

Non sunt occultata a filiis eorum in generatione altera, narrantes laudes Domini et virtutes ejus, et mirabilia ejus quæ fecit.

And shall we keep it back from their children, from the generation which follows? Speak we of God’s praise, of his great power, of the wonderful deeds he did.

And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:

Et suscitavit testimonium in Jacob, et legem posuit in Israël, quanta mandavit patribus nostris nota facere ea filiis suis:

He gave Jacob a rule to live by, framed for Israel a law, commanding our fathers to hand on the message,

that another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.

ut cognoscat generatio altera: filii qui nascentur et exsurgent, et narrabunt filiis suis,

so that a new generation might learn it; sons would be born to take their place, and teach it to their own sons after them.

That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.

ut ponant in Deo spem suam, et non obliviscantur operum Dei, et mandata ejus exquirant:

They were to put their trust in God, ever remembering his divine dealings with them, ever loyal to his commands;

That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

ne fiant, sicut patres eorum, generatio prava et exasperans; generatio quæ non direxit cor suum, et non est creditus cum Deo spiritus ejus.

they were not to be like their fathers, a stubborn and defiant breed, a generation of false aims, of a spirit that broke faith with God.

The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.

Filii Ephrem, intendentes et mittentes arcum, conversi sunt in die belli.

So it was that the sons of Ephraim, bow in hand, were routed in the day of battle.

They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.

Non custodierunt testamentum Dei, et in lege ejus noluerunt ambulare.

They were false to God’s covenant, refused to follow his law,

And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.

Et obliti sunt benefactorum ejus, et mirabilium ejus quæ ostendit eis.

as if they had forgotten all his mercies, all those wonderful deeds of his they had witnessed.

Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.

Coram patribus eorum fecit mirabilia in terra Ægypti, in campo Taneos.

Had not their fathers seen wonders enough in Egypt, on the plains of Tanis,

He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

Interrupit mare, et perduxit eos, et statuit aquas quasi in utre:

when he parted the sea to let them pass through it, making its waters stand firm as a mound of earth;

And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.

et deduxit eos in nube diei, et tota nocte in illuminatione ignis.

when he led them with a cloud by day, with glowing fire all through the night?

He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

Interrupit petram in eremo, et adaquavit eos velut in abysso multa.

He pierced the rock, too, in the desert, and slaked their thirst as if from some deep pool,

He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.

Et eduxit aquam de petra, et deduxit tamquam flumina aquas.

bidding the very stones yield water, till fountains gushed from them, abundant as rivers.

And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.

Et apposuerunt adhuc peccare ei; in iram excitaverunt Excelsum in inaquoso.

And still they went on offending him, there in the wilderness, rebelling against the most High,

And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

Et tentaverunt Deum in cordibus suis, ut peterent escas animabus suis.

challenging God in their thoughts to give them the food they craved for.

And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Et male locuti sunt de Deo; dixerunt: Numquid poterit Deus parare mensam in deserto?

Defiantly they asked, Can God spread a table for us in the wilderness?

Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?

quoniam percussit petram, et fluxerunt aquæ, et torrentes inundaverunt. Numquid et panem poterit dare, aut parare mensam populo suo?

True, he smote the rock, and made water flow from it, till the stream ran in flood, but can he give bread too, and provide meat for his people?

Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

Ideo audivit Dominus et distulit; et ignis accensus est in Jacob, et ira ascendit in Israël:

All this the Lord heard, and his indignation blazed out; its mounting fires Jacob had fed, its fury must break on Israel.

Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.

quia non crediderunt in Deo, nec speraverunt in salutari ejus.

What, had they no faith in God, no trust in his power to save?

And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.

Et mandavit nubibus desuper, et januas cæli aperuit.

He laid his command upon the clouds above them, threw open the doors of heaven,

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

Et pluit illis manna ad manducandum, et panem cæli dedit eis.

and rained down manna for them to eat. The bread of heaven was his gift to them;

Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

Panem angelorum manducavit homo; cibaria misit eis in abundantia.

man should eat the food of angels, and so their want should be supplied abundantly.

He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.

Transtulit austrum de cælo, et induxit in virtute sua africum.

Next, he summoned his east wind from the sky: it was his power brought the southern gale,

And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.

Et pluit super eos sicut pulverem carnes, et sicut arenam maris volatilia pennata.

raining down meat on them thick as dust, birds on the wing, plentiful as the sea-sand.

And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.

Et ceciderunt in medio castrorum eorum, circa tabernacula eorum.

Into their very camp it fell, close about their tents;

So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:

Et manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis, et desiderium eorum attulit eis:

and they ate, and took their fill. All they asked, he granted them;

they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:

non sunt fraudati a desiderio suo. Adhuc escæ eorum erant in ore ipsorum,

and now, their craving still unsatisfied, while the food was yet in their mouths,

and the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.

et ira Dei ascendit super eos: et occidit pingues eorum, et electos Israël impedivit.

God’s anger against them reached its height, and slew their lordliest, brought them low, all the flower of Israel.

In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.

In omnibus his peccaverunt adhuc, et non crediderunt in mirabilibus ejus.

Yet, with all this, they continued to offend him; all his wonderful deeds left them faithless still.

And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.

Et defecerunt in vanitate dies eorum, et anni eorum cum festinatione.

And ever he took away their lives untimely, hurried their days to an end.

When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.

Cum occideret eos, quærebant eum et revertebantur, et diluculo veniebant ad eum.

When he threatened them with death, they would search after him, feel their need of God once more;

And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.

Et rememorati sunt quia Deus adjutor est eorum, et Deus excelsus redemptor eorum est.

they would remind themselves that it was God who had protected them, his almighty power that had delivered them.

And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:

Et dilexerunt eum in ore suo, et lingua sua mentiti sunt ei;

But still they were lying lips, they were false tongues that spoke to him;

But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.

cor autem eorum non erat rectum cum eo, nec fideles habiti sunt in testamento ejus.

their hearts were not true to him, no loyalty bound them to his covenant.

But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath.

Ipse autem est misericors, et propitius fiet peccatis eorum, et non disperdet eos. Et abundavit ut averteret iram suam, et non accendit omnem iram suam.

Yet, such is his mercy, he would still pardon their faults, and spare them from destruction; again and again he curbed his indignation, to his vengeance would not give place.

And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.

Et recordatus est quia caro sunt, spiritus vadens et non rediens.

He would not forget that they were flesh and blood, no better than a breath of wind, that passes by and never returns.

How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?

Quoties exacerbaverunt eum in deserto; in iram concitaverunt eum in inaquoso?

How often the desert saw them in revolt against him, how often, in those solitudes, they defied his anger!

And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel.

Et conversi sunt, et tentaverunt Deum, et sanctum Israël exacerbaverunt.

Always new challenges to God’s power, new rebellions against the Holy One of Israel.

They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:

Non sunt recordati manus ejus, die qua redemit eos de manu tribulantis:

Had they forgotten all he did for them, that day when he set them free from the power of their oppressor,

How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

sicut posuit in Ægypto signa sua, et prodigia sua in campo Taneos;

all those miracles among the men of Egypt, those portents in the plain of Tanis,

And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might not drink.

et convertit in sanguinem flumina eorum, et imbres eorum, ne biberent.

when he turned all their streams, all their channels into blood, so that they could not drink?

He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.

Misit in eos cœnomyiam, et comedit eos, et ranam, et disperdidit eos;

He sent out flies, to their ruin, frogs to bring devastation on them,

And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.

et dedit ærugini fructus eorum, et labores eorum locustæ;

gave all their harvest over to the caterpillar, their tillage to the locust,

And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.

et occidit in grandine vineas eorum, et moros eorum in pruina;

sent hail on their vineyards, frost on their mulberry-trees,

And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.

et tradidit grandini jumenta eorum, et possessionem eorum igni;

let the hail have its way with their cattle, the lightning with their flocks.

And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

misit in eos iram indignationis suæ, indignationem, et iram, et tribulationem, immissiones per angelos malos.

He let his anger loose on them in all its vehemence; what rage, what fury, what havoc, as the angels of destruction thronged about them!

He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.

Viam fecit semitæ iræ suæ: non pepercit a morte animabus eorum, et jumenta eorum in morte conclusit:

So, the way made ready for his vengeance, he took toll of their lives, doomed even their cattle to the pestilence;

And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

et percussit omne primogenitum in terra Ægypti; primitias omnis laboris eorum in tabernaculis Cham:

on every first-born creature in Egypt, on the first-fruits of increase in all the dwellings of Cham, his stroke fell.

And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

et abstulit sicut oves populum suum, et perduxit eos tamquam gregem in deserto:

Then, like a shepherd, he set his own people on their way, led them, his own flock, through the wilderness;

And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

et deduxit eos in spe, et non timuerunt, et inimicos eorum operuit mare.

guided them in safety, free from all alarm, while the sea closed over their enemy.

And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.

Et induxit eos in montem sanctificationis suæ, montem quem acquisivit dextera ejus; et ejecit a facie eorum gentes, et sorte divisit eis terram in funiculo distributionis;

So he brought them to that holy land of his, the mountain slopes he took, with his own right hand for title; so he drove out the heathen at their onset, parcelled out the land to them by lot, to each his own inheritance,

And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

et habitare fecit in tabernaculis eorum tribus Israël.

bidding the tribes of Israel dwell where the heathen had dwelt before them.

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

Et tentaverunt, et exacerbaverunt Deum excelsum, et testimonia ejus non custodierunt.

These were the men who defied the most high God, and rebelled against him; would not observe his decrees,

And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

Et averterunt se, et non servaverunt pactum: quemadmodum patres eorum, conversi sunt in arcum pravum.

but turned away and broke faith with him as their fathers had done, like a bow that plays the archer false;

They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.

In iram concitaverunt eum in collibus suis, et in sculptilibus suis ad æmulationem eum provocaverunt.

made mountain shrines, to court his anger, carved images, to awake his jealousy!

God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.

Audivit Deus, et sprevit, et ad nihilum redegit valde Israël.

The Lord heard the bruit of it, and burned with anger, cast Israel away in bitter scorn;

And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.

Et repulit tabernaculum Silo, tabernaculum suum, ubi habitavit in hominibus.

he forsook his tabernacle in Silo, that tabernacle where once he dwelt among men.

And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

Et tradidit in captivitatem virtutem eorum, et pulchritudinem eorum in manus inimici.

Plunder, now, in the enemy’s hands, the ark that is shrine of his strength and majesty;

And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.

Et conclusit in gladio populum suum, et hæreditatem suam sprevit.

he would leave his people at the mercy of the sword, disdain his own inheritance.

Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.

Juvenes eorum comedit ignis, et virgines eorum non sunt lamentatæ.

Their young men fed the flames, and the maidens must go unwed;

Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.

Sacerdotes eorum in gladio ceciderunt, et viduæ eorum non plorabantur.

their priests fell by the sword, and never a widow left to mourn for them.

And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.

Et excitatus est tamquam dormiens Dominus, tamquam potens crapulatus a vino.

Then suddenly, like a man that wakes up from sleep, like some warrior that lay, till now, bemused with wine, the Lord roused himself;

And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.

Et percussit inimicos suos in posteriora; opprobrium sempiternum dedit illis.

he smote his enemies as they turned to flee, branded them for ever with shame.

And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

Et repulit tabernaculum Joseph, et tribum Ephraim non elegit:

But he refused, now, to make his dwelling with Joseph, it was not the tribe of Ephraim he would choose;

But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

sed elegit tribum Juda, montem Sion, quem dilexit.

he chose the tribe of Juda, and the hill of Sion, there to bestow his love.

And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.

Et ædificavit sicut unicornium sanctificium suum, in terra quam fundavit in sæcula.

And there he built his sanctuary, immovable as heaven or earth, his own unchanging handiwork.

And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,

Et elegit David, servum suum, et sustulit eum de gregibus ovium; de post fœtantes accepit eum:

He chose David, too, for his servant; took him away from herding the sheep; bade him leave off following the ewes that were in milk,

To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

pascere Jacob servum suum, et Israël hæreditatem suam.

and be the shepherd of Jacob’s sons, his own people, of Israel, his own domain.

And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Et pavit eos in innocentia cordis sui, et in intellectibus manuum suarum deduxit eos.

His was the loyal heart that should tend them, his the skilful hand that should be their guide.