Psalms78

¹A Maskil of Asaph . Give ear , O my people , to my teaching ; incline your ears to the words of my mouth !

²I will open my mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings from of old ,

³things that we have heard and known , that our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children , but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might , and the wonders that he has done .

⁵He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel , which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children ,

⁶that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn , and arise and tell them to their children ,

⁷so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God , but keep his commandments ;

⁸and that they should not be like their fathers , a stubborn and rebellious generation , a generation whose heart was not steadfast , whose spirit was not faithful to God .

⁹The Ephraimites , armed with the bow , turned back on the day of battle .

¹⁰They did not keep God’s covenant , but refused to walk according to his law .

¹¹They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.

¹²In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt , in the fields of Zoan .

¹³He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap .

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

¹⁵He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep .

¹⁶He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers .

¹⁷Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert .

¹⁸They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved .

¹⁹They spoke against God , saying , Can God spread a table in the wilderness ?

²⁰He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed . Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people ?

²¹Therefore , when the Lord heard , he was full of wrath ; a fire was kindled against Jacob ; his anger rose against Israel ,

²²because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power .

²³Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven ,

²⁴and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven .

²⁵Man ate of the bread of the angels ; he sent them food in abundance .

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens , and by his power he led out the south wind ;

²⁷he rained meat on them like dust , winged birds like the sand of the seas ;

²⁸he let them fall in the midst of their camp , all around their dwellings .

²⁹And they ate and were well filled , for he gave them what they craved .

³⁰But before they had satisfied their craving , while the food was still in their mouths ,

³¹the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel .

³²In spite of all this , they still sinned ; despite his wonders , they did not believe .

³³So he made their days vanish like a breath , and their years in terror .

³⁴When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly .

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock , the Most High God their redeemer .

³⁶But they flattered him with their mouths ; they lied to him with their tongues .

³⁷Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant .

³⁸Yet he, being compassionate , atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath .

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh , a wind that passes and comes not again .

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert !

⁴¹They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel .

⁴²They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe ,

⁴³when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan .

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood , so that they could not drink of their streams .

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies , which devoured them, and frogs , which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust .

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost .

⁴⁸He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts .

⁴⁹He let loose on them his burning anger , wrath , indignation , and distress , a company of destroying angels .

⁵⁰He made a path for his anger ; he did not spare them from death , but gave their lives over to the plague .

⁵¹He struck down every firstborn in Egypt , the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham .

⁵²Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock .

⁵³He led them in safety , so that they were not afraid , but the sea overwhelmed their enemies .

⁵⁴And he brought them to his holy land , to the mountain which his right hand had won .

⁵⁵He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents .

⁵⁶Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies ,

⁵⁷but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers ; they twisted like a deceitful bow .

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places ; they moved him to jealousy with their idols .

⁵⁹When God heard , he was wrath , and he utterly rejected Israel .

⁶⁰He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh , the tent where he dwelt among mankind ,

⁶¹and delivered his power to captivity , his glory to the hand of the foe .

⁶²He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage .

⁶³Fire devoured their young men , and their young women had no marriage song .

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

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep , like a strong man shouting because of wine .

⁶⁶And he put his adversaries to rout ; he put them to everlasting shame .

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Joseph ; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim ,

⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah , Mount Zion , which he loves .

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the high heavens , like the earth , which he has founded forever .

⁷⁰He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds ;

⁷¹from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people , Israel his inheritance .

⁷²With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand .