Home Master Index
←Prev   Psalms 78 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


78:1  A maskil of Asaph. Give ear, my people, to my teaching; pay attention to the words of my mouth.
78:2  I will open my mouth in parables and expound the mysteries of the past.
78:3  These things we have heard and know, for our ancestors have related them to us.
78:4  We will not conceal them from our children; we will relate them to the next generation, the glorious and powerful deeds of the Lord and the wonders he has performed.
78:5  He instituted a decree in Jacob and established a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to make known to their descendants,
78:6  so that they would be known to future generations, to children yet to be born. In turn they were to tell their children,
78:7  so that they would place their trust in God, and never forget his works but keep his commandments.
78:8  Nor were they to imitate their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast and whose spirit was unfaithful to God.
78:9  The Ephraimites, who were skilled archers, fled in terror on the day of battle.
78:10  They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live in accord with his law.
78:11  They forgot the works he had done, the wonders he had performed for them.
78:12  He worked marvels in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the Plain of Zoan.
78:13  He divided the sea so that they could pass, heaping up the waters as a mound.
78:14  He led them with a cloud by day, and with the light of a fire by night.
78:15  He split open rocks in the wilderness and gave them water to drink from limitless depths.
78:16  He brought forth streams from a rocky crag and caused water to flow down in torrents.
78:17  But they still sinned against him, rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
78:18  They tested God’s patience by demanding the food they craved.
78:19  They railed against God, saying: “Can God provide a banquet in the wilderness?
78:20  Certainly when he struck the rock, water gushed forth and the streams overflowed. But can he also give us bread or provide meat for his people?”
78:21  When the Lord heard this, he was filled with anger; his fire blazed forth against Jacob, and his wrath mounted against Israel,
78:22  because they had no faith in God and put no trust in his saving might.
78:23  Yet he issued a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens.
78:24  He rained down manna for them to eat, giving them the grain of heaven.
78:25  Mere mortals ate the bread of angels; he sent them an abundance of provisions.
78:26  He made the east wind blow in the heavens and brought forth the south wind in force.
78:27  He rained down meat upon them like dust, winged birds like the sands on the seashore.
78:28  He let them fall within the camp, all around their tents.
78:29  They ate and were completely satisfied, for he had given them what they desired.
78:30  But when they did not curb their cravings, even while the food was in their mouths,
78:31  the anger of God blazed up against them; he slew their strongest warriors and laid low the chosen of Israel.
78:32  Despite this, they continued to sin; they put no faith in his wonders.
78:33  So he brought their days to an abrupt end and cut off their years with sudden terror.
78:34  When death afflicted them, they sought him; they searched eagerly for God.
78:35  They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
78:36  However, while they flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues,
78:37  their hearts were not right with him, nor were they faithful to his covenant.
78:38  Even so, he was compassionate toward them; he forgave their guilt and did not destroy them. Time after time he held back his anger, unwilling to stir up his rage.
78:39  For he remembered that they were flesh, like a breath of wind that does not return.
78:40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and pained him in the wasteland.
78:41  Again and again they tested God’s patience, provoking the Holy One of Israel.
78:42  They did not keep in mind his power or the day when he delivered them from their oppressor,
78:43  when he manifested his wonders in Egypt and his portents in the Plain of Zoan.
78:44  He turned their rivers into blood; they could not drink from their streams.
78:45  He sent swarms of flies that devoured them and frogs that devastated them.
78:46  He assigned their harvest to the caterpillars and their produce to the locusts.
78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with frost.
78:48  He exposed their cattle to hailstones and their flocks to bolts of lightning.
78:49  He sent upon them his blazing anger, wrath, fury, and hostility, a band of destroying angels.
78:50  He gave his anger free rein; he did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.
78:51  He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their manhood in the tents of Ham.
78:52  Then he led forth his people like sheep and guided them through the wilderness like a flock.
78:53  He led them in safety, and they were not afraid, while the sea engulfed their enemies.
78:54  He brought them to his holy land, to the mountain his right hand had purchased.
78:55  He drove out the nations before them, apportioning a heritage for each of them and settling the tribes of Israel in their tents.
78:56  Even so, they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High, refusing to observe his decrees.
78:57  They turned away and were disloyal like their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a faulty bow.
78:58  They angered him with their high places and made him jealous with their idols.
78:59  When God saw this, he became enraged and rejected Israel totally.
78:60  He forsook his dwelling in Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mortals.
78:61  He surrendered his might into captivity and his glory into the hands of the enemy.
78:62  He abandoned his people to the sword and vented his wrath on his own heritage.
78:63  Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no wedding song.
78:64  Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows sang no lamentation.
78:65  Then the Lord awakened as from sleep, like a warrior flushed from the effects of wine.
78:66  He struck his enemies and routed them, inflicting perpetual shame on them.
78:67  He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
78:68  Rather, he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
78:69  He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, and like the earth that he founded forever.
78:70  He chose David to be his servant and took him from the sheepfolds.
78:71  From tending sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his heritage.
78:72  He shepherded them with an unblemished heart and guided them with a knowing hand.