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78:1  Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
78:2  I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,
78:3  things we have heard and known, things that our ancestors told us.
78:4  We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.
78:5  He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob. He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to their children,
78:6  so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.
78:7  In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments.
78:8  They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.
78:9  The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.
78:10  They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law.
78:11  They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform.
78:12  While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
78:13  He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls.
78:14  By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire.
78:15  He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths.
78:16  He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river.
78:17  But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
78:18  They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.
78:19  They spoke against God and said, “Can God supply food in the desert?
78:20  It is true that he struck the rock, and water flowed out in a torrent; but can he also provide us with bread and give his people meat?”
78:21  And so the Lord was angry when he heard them; he attacked his people with fire, and his anger against them grew,
78:22  because they had no faith in him and did not believe that he would save them.
78:23  But he spoke to the sky above and commanded its doors to open;
78:24  he gave them grain from heaven, by sending down manna for them to eat.
78:25  So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
78:26  He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
78:27  and to his people he sent down birds, as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
78:28  they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
78:29  So the people ate and were satisfied; God gave them what they wanted.
78:30  But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating,
78:31  when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.
78:32  In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
78:33  So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
78:34  Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
78:35  They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
78:36  But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
78:37  They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.
78:38  But God was merciful to his people. He forgave their sin and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and restrained his fury.
78:39  He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.
78:40  How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!
78:41  Again and again they put God to the test and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
78:42  They forgot his great power and the day when he saved them from their enemies
78:43  and performed his mighty acts and miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
78:44  He turned the rivers into blood, and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
78:45  He sent flies among them, that tormented them, and frogs that ruined their land.
78:46  He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.
78:47  He killed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.
78:48  He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.
78:49  He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.
78:50  He did not restrain his anger or spare their lives, but killed them with a plague.
78:51  He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.
78:52  Then he led his people out like a shepherd and guided them through the desert.
78:53  He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
78:54  He brought them to his holy land, to the mountains which he himself conquered.
78:55  He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced; he divided their land among the tribes of Israel and gave their homes to his people.
78:56  But they rebelled against Almighty God and put him to the test. They did not obey his commandments,
78:57  but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.
78:58  They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.
78:59  God was angry when he saw it, so he rejected his people completely.
78:60  He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.
78:61  He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box, the symbol of his power and glory.
78:62  He was angry with his own people and let them be killed by their enemies.
78:63  Young men were killed in war, and young women had no one to marry.
78:64  Priests died by violence, and their widows were not allowed to mourn.
78:65  At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep; he was like a strong man excited by wine.
78:66  He drove his enemies back in lasting and shameful defeat.
78:67  But he rejected the descendants of Joseph; he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.
78:68  Instead he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.
78:69  There he built his Temple like his home in heaven; he made it firm like the earth itself, secure for all time.
78:70  He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures,
78:71  where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.
78:72  David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill.