Psalms - Chapter 78 | English Standard Version

  • 1. A Maskil of Asaph. 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 with 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 like a breath, 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 power 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.
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