Daily Bread

32 Listen,^(A) you heavens,^(B) and I will speak;
    hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.^(C)
2 Let my teaching fall like rain^(D)
    and my words descend like dew,^(E)
like showers^(F) on new grass,
    like abundant rain on tender plants.

³ I will proclaim^(G) the name of the Lord.^(H)
    Oh, praise the greatness^(I) of our God!
⁴ He is the Rock,^(J) his works are perfect,^(K)
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God^(L) who does no wrong,
    upright^(M) and just is he.^(N)

⁵ They are corrupt and not his children;
    to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.^(O)
6 Is this the way you repay^(P) the Lord,
    you foolish^(Q) and unwise people?^(R)
Is he not your Father,^(S) your Creator,^[a]
    who made you and formed you?^(T)

⁷ Remember the days of old;^(U)
    consider the generations long past.^(V)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
    your elders, and they will explain to you.^(W)
8 When the Most High^(X) gave the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided all mankind,^(Y)
he set up boundaries^(Z) for the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of Israel.^[b](AA)
9 For the Lord’s portion^(AB) is his people,
    Jacob his allotted inheritance.^(AC)

¹⁰ In a desert^(AD) land he found him,
    in a barren and howling waste.^(AE)
He shielded^(AF) him and cared for him;
    he guarded him as the apple of his eye,^(AG)
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,^(AH)
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft.^(AI)
12 The Lord alone led^(AJ) him;^(AK)
    no foreign god was with him.^(AL)

¹³ He made him ride on the heights^(AM) of the land
    and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,^(AN)
    and with oil^(AO) from the flinty crag,
¹⁴ with curds and milk from herd and flock
    and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan^(AP)
    and the finest kernels of wheat.^(AQ)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.^(AR)

¹⁵ Jeshurun^[c](AS) grew fat^(AT) and kicked;
    filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned^(AU) the God who made them
    and rejected the Rock^(AV) their Savior.
¹⁶ They made him jealous^(AW) with their foreign gods
    and angered^(AX) him with their detestable idols.
¹⁷ They sacrificed^(AY) to false gods,^(AZ) which are not God—
    gods they had not known,^(BA)
    gods that recently appeared,^(BB)
    gods your ancestors did not fear.
¹⁸ You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
    you forgot^(BC) the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ The Lord saw this and rejected them^(BD)
    because he was angered by his sons and daughters.^(BE)
20 “I will hide my face^(BF) from them,” he said,
    “and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,^(BG)
    children who are unfaithful.^(BH)
21 They made me jealous^(BI) by what is no god
    and angered me with their worthless idols.^(BJ)
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
    I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.^(BK)
22 For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,^(BL)
    one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.^(BM)
It will devour^(BN) the earth and its harvests^(BO)
    and set afire the foundations of the mountains.^(BP)

²³ “I will heap calamities^(BQ) on them
    and spend my arrows^(BR) against them.
²⁴ I will send wasting famine^(BS) against them,
    consuming pestilence^(BT) and deadly plague;^(BU)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,^(BV)
    the venom of vipers^(BW) that glide in the dust.^(BX)
25 In the street the sword will make them childless;
    in their homes terror^(BY) will reign.^(BZ)
The young men and young women will perish,
    the infants and those with gray hair.^(CA)
26 I said I would scatter^(CB) them
    and erase their name from human memory,^(CC)
27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
    lest the adversary misunderstand^(CD)
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
    the Lord has not done all this.’”^(CE)