Psalm 78

Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil of Asaph.

1  Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2  I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3  things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
4  We 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.

5  He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6  that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7  so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8  and 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.

9  The Ephraimites, armed witht the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10  They did not keep God's covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11  They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12  In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13  He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14  In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15  He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16  He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17  Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18  They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19  They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20  He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?"

21  Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22  because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23  Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24  and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25  Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26  He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27  he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28  he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29  And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30  But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31  the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.

32  In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
33  So he made their days vanish liket a breath,t
and their years in terror.
34  When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35  They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36  But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37  Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38  Yet 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.
39  He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.
40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41  They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42  They did not remember his powert
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43  when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
44  He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45  He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46  He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47  He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
48  He gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49  He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50  He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51  He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52  Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53  He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54  And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.
55  He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56  Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.
58  For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59  When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60  He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61  and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
62  He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63  Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
64  Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65  Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66  And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.

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 loves.
69  He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70  He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71  from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
72  With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.

Psalms 78

What God has done for his people

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

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

3 These are things we learnt
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 he did for their ancestorst
near Zoant in Egypt.

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

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

15 God made water flowt
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 They stubbornly tested Godt
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 From heaven he sent graint
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
brought a strong wind
from the south-east,

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 they were unfaithfult
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 He turned the rivers of Egyptt
into blood,
and no one could drink
from the streams.

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

46 God let worms and grasshopperst
eat their crops.

47 He destroyed their grapevinest
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 gave in to his anger
and slaughtered them
in a terrible way.

51 He killed the firstborn sont
of each Egyptian family.

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

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

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

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

56 But the people testedt
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 worshipping idols.

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

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

61 He let enemies capturet
the sacred chestt
and let them dishonour 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,
and he shouted
like a drunken soldier.

66 God scattered his enemies
and made them ashamed
for ever.

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
that he had made
to last for ever.

70 The Lord God chose Davidt
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.