Psalm 78

Psalm 78

A psalm of Asaph.

1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the LORD,
about his power and his mighty wonders.5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.8 Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.9 The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his instructions.11 They forgot what he had done—
the great wonders he had shown them,12 the miracles he did for their ancestors
on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.13 For he divided the sea and led them through,
making the water stand up like walls!14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
and all night by a pillar of fire.15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness
to give them water, as from a gushing spring.16 He made streams pour from the rock,
making the waters flow down like a river!17 Yet they kept on sinning against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.18 They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,
demanding the foods they craved.19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,
“God can’t give us food in the wilderness.20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious.
The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
Yes, his anger rose against Israel,22 for they did not believe God
or trust him to care for them.23 But he commanded the skies to open;
he opened the doors of heaven.24 He rained down manna for them to eat;
he gave them bread from heaven.25 They ate the food of angels!
God gave them all they could hold.26 He released the east wind in the heavens
and guided the south wind by his mighty power.27 He rained down meat as thick as dust—
birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp
and all around their tents.29 The people ate their fill.
He gave them what they craved.30 But before they satisfied their craving,
while the meat was yet in their mouths,31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed their strongest men.
He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.32 But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.
Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.33 So he ended their lives in failure,
their years in terror.34 When God began killing them,
they finally sought him.
They repented and took God seriously.35 Then they remembered that God was their rock,
that God Most Hight was their redeemer.36 But all they gave him was lip service;
they lied to him with their tongues.37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They did not keep his covenant.38 Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
and did not destroy them all.
Many times he held back his anger
and did not unleash his fury!39 For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
gone like a breath of wind that never returns.40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.41 Again and again they tested God’s patience
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.42 They did not remember his power
and how he rescued them from their enemies.43 They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders on the plain of Zoan.44 For he turned their rivers into blood,
so no one could drink from the streams.45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them
and hordes of frogs to ruin them.46 He gave their crops to caterpillars;
their harvest was consumed by locusts.47 He destroyed their grapevines with hail
and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.49 He loosed on them his fierce anger—
all his fury, rage, and hostility.
He dispatched against them
a band of destroying angels.50 He turned his anger against them;
he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives
but ravaged them with the plague.51 He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,
the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.t52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,
guiding them safely through the wilderness.53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this land of hills he had won for them.55 He drove out the nations before them;
he gave them their inheritance by lot.
He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.56 But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High.
They did not obey his laws.57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods;
they made him jealous with their idols.59 When God heard them, he was very angry,
and he completely rejected Israel.60 Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.61 He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured;
he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.62 He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword,
because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.63 Their young men were killed by fire;
their young women died before singing their wedding songs.64 Their priests were slaughtered,
and their widows could not mourn their deaths.65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep,
like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.66 He routed his enemies
and sent them to eternal shame.67 But he rejected Joseph’s descendants;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
and Mount Zion, which he loved.69 There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens,
as solid and enduring as the earth.70 He chose his servant David,
calling him from the sheep pens.71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs
and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants—
God’s own people, Israel.72 He cared for them with a true heart
and led them with skillful hands.

PSALMS 78

What God Has Done //for His People

1 My friends, I beg you
to listen as I teach.

2  t I will give instruction
and explain the mystery
of what happened long ago.

3 These are things we learned
from our ancestors,

4 and we will tell them
to the next generation.
We won't keep secret
the glorious deeds
and the mighty miracles
of the [Lord].

5 God gave his Law
to Jacob's descendants,
the people of Israel.
And he told our ancestors
to teach their children,

6 so that each new generation
would know his Law
and tell it to the next.

7 Then they would trust God
and obey his teachings,
without forgetting anything
God had done.

8 They would be different
from their ancestors,
who were stubborn, rebellious,
and unfaithful to God.

9 The warriors from Ephraim
were armed with arrows,
but they ran away
when the battle began.

10 They broke their agreement
with God,
and they turned their backs
on his teaching.

11 They forgot all he had done,
even the mighty miracles

12  t t he did for their ancestors
near Zoant in Egypt.

13  t God made a path in the sea
and piled up the water
as he led them across.

14  t He guided them during the day
with a cloud,
and each night he led them
with a flaming fire.

15  t God made water flow
from rocks he split open
in the desert,
and his people drank freely,
as though from a lake.

16 He made streams gush out
like rivers from rocks.

17 But in the desert,
the people of God Most High
kept sinning and rebelling.

18  t They stubbornly tested God
and demanded from him
what they wanted to eat.

19 They challenged God by saying,
“Can God provide food
out here in the desert?

20 It's true God struck the rock
and water gushed out
like a river,
but can he give his people
bread and meat?”

21 When the [Lord] heard this,
he was angry and furious
with Jacob's descendants,
the people of Israel.

22 They had refused to trust him,
and they had doubted
his saving power.

23 But God gave a command
to the clouds,
and he opened the doors
in the skies.

24  t From heaven he sent grain
that they called manna.t

25 He gave them more than enough,
and each one of them ate
this special food.

26 God's mighty power
sent a strong wind
from the southeast,

27 and it brought birds
that covered the ground,
like sand on the beach.

28 Then God made the birds fall
in the camp of his people
near their tents.

29 God gave his people
all they wanted,
and each of them ate
until they were full.

30 But before they had swallowed
the last bite,

31 God became angry and killed
the strongest and best
from the families of Israel.

32 But the rest kept on sinning
and would not trust
God's miracles.

33 So he cut their lives short
and made them terrified.

34 After he killed some of them,
the others turned to him
with all their hearts.

35 They remembered God Most High,
the mighty rockt
that kept them safe.

36 But they tried to flatter God,
and they told him lies;

37  t they were unfaithful
and broke their promises.

38 Yet God was kind.
He kept forgiving their sins
and didn't destroy them.
He often became angry,
but never lost his temper.

39 God remembered that they
were made of flesh
and were like a wind
that blows once
and then dies down.

40 While they were in the desert,
they often rebelled
and made God sad.

41 They kept testing him
and caused terrible pain
for the Holy One of Israel.

42 They forgot about his power
and how he had rescued them
from their enemies.

43 God showed them all kinds
of wonderful miracles
near Zoant in Egypt.

44  t He turned the rivers of Egypt
into blood,
and no one could drink
from the streams.

45  t He sent swarms of flies
to pester the Egyptians,
and he sent frogs
to cause them trouble.

46  t God let worms and grasshoppers
eat their crops.

47  t He destroyed their grapevines
and their fig trees
with hail and floods.
t

48 Then he killed their cattle
with hail
and their other animals
with lightning.

49 God was so angry and furious
that he went into a rage
and caused them great trouble
by sending swarms
of destroying angels.

50 God released his anger
and slaughtered them
in a terrible way.

51  t He killed the first-born son
of each Egyptian family.

52  t Then God led his people
out of Egypt
and guided them in the desert
like a flock of sheep.

53  t He led them safely along,
and they were not afraid,
but their enemies drowned
in the sea.

54  t God brought his people
to the sacred mountain
that he had taken
by his own power.

55  t He made nations run
from the tribes of Israel,
and he let the tribes
take over their land.

56  t But the people tested
God Most High,
and they refused
to obey his laws.

57 They were as unfaithful
as their ancestors,
and they were as crooked
as a twisted arrow.

58 God demanded all their love,
but they made him angry
by worshiping idols.

59 So God became furious
and completely rejected
the people of Israel.

60  t Then he deserted his home
at Shiloh, where he lived
here on earth.

61  t He let enemies capture
the sacred chestt
and let them dishonor him.

62 God took out his anger
on his chosen ones
and let them be killed
by enemy swords.

63 Fire destroyed the young men,
and the young women were left
with no one to marry.

64 Priests died violent deaths,
but their widows
were not allowed to mourn.

65 Finally the Lord woke up,
like a soldier
startled from a drunken sleep.

66 God scattered his enemies
and made them ashamed
forever.

67 Then the Lord decided
not to make his home
with Joseph's descendants
in Ephraim.t

68 Instead he chose the tribe
of Judah,
and he chose Mount Zion,
the place he loves.

69 There he built his temple
as lofty as the mountains
and as solid as the earth
he made to last forever.

70  t The Lord God chose David
to be his servant and took him
from tending sheep

71 and from caring for lambs.
Then God made him the leader
of Israel, his own nation.

72 David treated the people fairly
and guided them with wisdom.