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78:1  A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour forth dark sayings of old,
78:3  Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have recounted to us.
78:4  We will not conceal them from their children, But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done.
78:5  For He established a testimony in Jacob And set a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,
78:6  That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and recount them to their children,
78:7  That they should set their confidence in God And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments,
78:8  And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
78:9  The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
78:10  They did not keep the covenant of God And refused to walk in His law;
78:11  So they forgot His acts And His wondrous deeds that He had shown them.
78:12  He did wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
78:13  He split the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
78:14  Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire.
78:15  He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
78:16  He brought forth streams also from the cliff face And caused waters to run down like rivers.
78:17  Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
78:18  And in their heart they put God to the test By asking for food according to their desire.
78:19  Then they spoke against God; They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
78:20  Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He prepare meat for His people?”
78:21  Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel,
78:22  Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.
78:23  Yet He commanded the skies above And opened the doors of heaven;
78:24  He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them grain from heaven.
78:25  Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them provision to satisfy.
78:26  He led forth the east wind in the heavens And by His strength He guided the south wind.
78:27  Then He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
78:28  He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp, All around His dwelling places.
78:29  So they ate and were very satisfied, And their desire He brought to them.
78:30  Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths,
78:31  The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel.
78:32  In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wondrous deeds.
78:33  So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror.
78:34  When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and sought earnestly for God;
78:35  And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.
78:36  But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue.
78:37  For their heart was not prepared to remain with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
78:38  But He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; And He abounded in turning back His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.
78:39  Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that goes and does not return.
78:40  How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the wasteland!
78:41  Again and again they tested God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.
78:42  They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,
78:43  When He performed His signs in Egypt And His miracles in the field of Zoan,
78:44  And turned their rivers to blood, And their streams, they could not drink.
78:45  He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them.
78:46  He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the fruit of their labor to the locust.
78:47  He killed their vines with hailstones And their sycamore trees with frost.
78:48  He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones And their herds to bolts of lightning.
78:49  He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury and indignation and distress, A band of destroying angels.
78:50  He leveled a path for His anger; He did not hold back their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague,
78:51  So He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The first of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
78:52  But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
78:53  He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea covered their enemies.
78:54  So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had acquired.
78:55  He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
78:56  Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies,
78:57  But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow.
78:58  For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
78:59  God heard and was filled with wrath And greatly rejected Israel;
78:60  So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He caused to dwell among men,
78:61  And gave up His strength to captivity And His beauty into the hand of the adversary.
78:62  He also gave over His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
78:63  Fire devoured His choice men, And His virgins had no wedding songs.
78:64  His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep.
78:65  Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, As if He were a warrior overcome by wine.
78:66  He struck His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach.
78:67  He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
78:68  But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.
78:69  And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever.
78:70  He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds;
78:71  From following the nursing ewes He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance.
78:72  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And led them with his skillful hands.