Psalm 78

1 A maskil by Asaph. Open your ears to my teachings, my people.Turn your ears to the words from my mouth.2 I will open my mouth to illustrate points.I will explain what has been hidden long ago,3 things that we have heard and known about,things that our parents have told us.4 We will not hide them from our children.We will tell the next generationabout the Lord’s power and great deedsand the miraculous things he has done.5 He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.He gave his teachings to Israel.He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children6 so that the next generation would know them.Children yet to be born would learn them.They will grow up and tell their children7 to trust God, to remember what he has done,and to obey his commands.8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,a stubborn and rebellious generation.Their hearts were not loyal.Their spirits were not faithful to God.9 The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows and arrows,turned and ran on the day of battle.10 They had not been faithful to God’s promise.tThey refused to follow his teachings.11 They forgot what he had done—the miracles that he had shown them.12 In front of their ancestors he performed miraclesin the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.13 He divided the sea and led them through it.He made the waters stand up like a wall.14 He guided them by a cloud during the dayand by a fiery light throughout the night.15 He split rocks in the desert.He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.16 He made streams come out of a rock.He made the water flow like rivers.17 They continued to sin against him,to rebel in the desert against the Most High.18 They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved.19 They spoke against God by saying,“Can God prepare a banquet in the desert?20 True, he did strike a rock,and water did gush out,and the streams did overflow.But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”21 When the Lord heard this, he became furious.His fire burned against Jacoband his anger flared up at Israel22 because they did not believe Godor trust him to save them.23 In spite of that, he commanded the clouds aboveand opened the doors of heaven.24 He rained manna down on them to eatand gave them grain from heaven.25 Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,and God sent them plenty of food.26 He made the east wind blow in the heavensand guided the south wind with his might.27 He rained meat down on them like dust,birds like the sand on the seashore.28 He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,all around his dwelling place.29 They ate more than enough.He gave them what they wanted,30 but they still wanted more.While the food was still in their mouths,31 the anger of God flared up against them.He killed their strongest menand slaughtered the best young men in Israel.32 In spite of all this, they continued to sin,and they no longer believed in his miracles.33 He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.He brought their years to an end in terror.34 When he killed some of them, the rest searched for him.They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for God.35 They remembered that God was their rock,that the Most High was their defender.36 They flattered him with their mouthsand lied to him with their tongues.37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.They were not faithful to his promise.38 But he is compassionate.He forgave their sin.He did not destroy them.He restrained his anger many times.He did not display all of his fury.39 He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,a breeze that blows and does not return.40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!How often they caused him grief in the desert!41 Again and again they tested God,and they pushed the Holy One of Israel to the limit.42 They did not remember his power—the day he freed them from their oppressor,43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt,his wonders in the fields of Zoan.44 He turned their rivers into bloodso that they could not drink from their streams.45 He sent a swarm of flies that bit themand frogs that ruined them.46 He gave their crops to grasshoppersand their produce to locusts.47 He killed their vines with hailand their fig trees with frost.48 He let the hail strike their cattleand bolts of lightning strike their livestock.49 He sent his burning anger, rage, fury, and hostility against them.He sent an army of destroying angels.50 He cleared a path for his anger.He did not spare them.He let the plague take their lives.51 He slaughtered every firstborn in Egypt,the ones born in the tents of Ham when their fathers were young.52 But he led his own people out like sheepand guided them like a flock through the wilderness.53 He led them safely.They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.54 He brought them into his holy land,to this mountain that his power had won.55 He forced nations out of their wayand gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance.He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.56 They tested God Most High and rebelled against him.They did not obey his written instructions.57 They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.58 They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.They made him furious because they worshiped idols.59 When God heard, he became furious.He completely rejected Israel.60 He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,the tent where he had lived among humans.61 He allowed his power to be taken captiveand handed his glory over to an oppressor.62 He let swords kill his people.He was furious with those who belonged to him.63 Fire consumed his best young men,so his virgins heard no wedding songs.64 His priests were cut down with swords.The widows of his priests could not even weep for them.65 Then the Lord woke up like one who had been sleeping,like a warrior sobering up from too much wine.66 He struck his enemies from behindand disgraced them forever.67 He rejected the tent of Joseph.He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,Mount Zion which he loved.69 He built his holy place to be like the high heavens,like the earth which he made to last for a long time.70 He chose his servant David.He took him from the sheep pens.71 He brought him from tending the ewes that had lambsso that David could be the shepherd of the people of Jacob,of Israel, the people who belonged to the Lord.72 With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd.With skill he guided them.

Psalm 78

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, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous 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 that should be born; Who should arise and tell 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 they forgat his doings, And his wondrous works that he had showed them.

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

13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.

14 In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.

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

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

17 Yet went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

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

20 Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?

21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel;

22 Because they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation.

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

24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.

25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind.

27 He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

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; And he gave them their own desire.

30 They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths,

31 When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel.

32 For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works.

33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror.

34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly.

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

36 But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue.

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

38 But he, being merciful, 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 And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!

41 And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They remember not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

43 How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44 And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.

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

46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust.

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

48 He gave over 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, A band of angels of evil.

50 He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,

51 And smote all the first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

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

55 He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And kept not his testimonies;

57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously 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 adversary’s hand.

62 He gave his people over also unto the sword, And was wroth with his inheritance.

63 Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song.

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

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

66 And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he refused the tent 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 the heights, 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 that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.