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78:1  (A special psalm by Asaph.) My friends, I beg you to listen as I teach.
78:2  I will give instruction and explain the mystery of what happened long ago.
78:3  These are things we learned from our ancestors,
78:4  and we will tell them to the next generation. We won't keep secret the glorious deeds and the mighty miracles of the Lord.
78:5  God gave his Law to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel. And he told our ancestors to teach their children,
78:6  so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next.
78:7  Then they would trust God and obey his teachings, without forgetting anything God had done.
78:8  They would be different from their ancestors, who were stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful to God.
78:9  The warriors from Ephraim were armed with arrows, but they ran away when the battle began.
78:10  They broke their agreement with God, and they turned their backs on his teaching.
78:11  They forgot all he had done, even the mighty miracles
78:12  he did for their ancestors near Zoan in Egypt.
78:13  God made a path in the sea and piled up the water as he led them across.
78:14  He guided them during the day with a cloud, and each night he led them with a flaming fire.
78:15  God made water flow from rocks he split open in the desert, and his people drank freely, as though from a lake.
78:16  He made streams gush out like rivers from rocks.
78:17  But in the desert, the people of God Most High kept sinning and rebelling.
78:18  They stubbornly tested God and demanded from him what they wanted to eat.
78:19  They challenged God by saying, “Can God provide food out here in the desert?
78:20  It's true God struck the rock and water gushed out like a river, but can he give his people bread and meat?”
78:21  When the Lord heard this, he was angry and furious with Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel.
78:22  They had refused to trust him, and they had doubted his saving power.
78:23  But God gave a command to the clouds, and he opened the doors in the skies.
78:24  From heaven he sent grain that they called manna.
78:25  He gave them more than enough, and each one of them ate this special food.
78:26  God's mighty power sent a strong wind from the southeast,
78:27  and it brought birds that covered the ground, like sand on the beach.
78:28  Then God made the birds fall in the camp of his people near their tents.
78:29  God gave his people all they wanted, and each of them ate until they were full.
78:30  But before they had swallowed the last bite,
78:31  God became angry and killed the strongest and best from the families of Israel.
78:32  But the rest kept on sinning and would not trust God's miracles.
78:33  So he cut their lives short and made them terrified.
78:34  After he killed some of them, the others turned to him with all their hearts.
78:35  They remembered God Most High, the mighty rock that kept them safe.
78:36  But they tried to flatter God, and they told him lies;
78:37  they were unfaithful and broke their promises.
78:38  Yet God was kind. He kept forgiving their sins and didn't destroy them. He often became angry, but never lost his temper.
78:39  God remembered that they were made of flesh and were like a wind that blows once and then dies down.
78:40  While they were in the desert, they often rebelled and made God sad.
78:41  They kept testing him and caused terrible pain for the Holy One of Israel.
78:42  They forgot about his power and how he had rescued them from their enemies.
78:43  God showed them all kinds of wonderful miracles near Zoan in Egypt.
78:44  He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood, and no one could drink from the streams.
78:45  He sent swarms of flies to pester the Egyptians, and he sent frogs to cause them trouble.
78:46  God let worms and grasshoppers eat their crops.
78:47  He destroyed their grapevines and their fig trees with hail and floods.
78:48  Then he killed their cattle with hail and their other animals with lightning.
78:49  God was so angry and furious that he went into a rage and caused them great trouble by sending swarms of destroying angels.
78:50  God released his anger and slaughtered them in a terrible way.
78:51  He killed the first-born son of each Egyptian family.
78:52  Then God led his people out of Egypt and guided them in the desert like a flock of sheep.
78:53  He led them safely along, and they were not afraid, but their enemies drowned in the sea.
78:54  God brought his people to the sacred mountain that he had taken by his own power.
78:55  He made nations run from the tribes of Israel, and he let the tribes take over their land.
78:56  But the people tested God Most High, and they refused to obey his laws.
78:57  They were as unfaithful as their ancestors, and they were as crooked as a twisted arrow.
78:58  God demanded all their love, but they made him angry by worshiping idols.
78:59  So God became furious and completely rejected the people of Israel.
78:60  Then he deserted his home at Shiloh, where he lived here on earth.
78:61  He let enemies capture the sacred chest and let them dishonor him.
78:62  God took out his anger on his chosen ones and let them be killed by enemy swords.
78:63  Fire destroyed the young men, and the young women were left with no one to marry.
78:64  Priests died violent deaths, but their widows were not allowed to mourn.
78:65  Finally the Lord woke up, like a soldier startled from a drunken sleep.
78:66  God scattered his enemies and made them ashamed forever.
78:67  Then the Lord decided not to make his home with Joseph's descendants in Ephraim.
78:68  Instead he chose the tribe of Judah, and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves.
78:69  There he built his temple as lofty as the mountains and as solid as the earth he made to last forever.
78:70  The Lord God chose David to be his servant and took him from tending sheep
78:71  and from caring for lambs. Then God made him the leader of Israel, his own nation.
78:72  David treated the people fairly and guided them with wisdom.