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78:1  A contemplative song of Asaph. Listen, my people, to my teaching. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2  I will open my mouth with a parable. I will utter perplexing sayings from of old,
78:3  which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
78:4  We will not hide them from their children, telling to the next generation the praises of Adonai and His strength and the wonders He has done.
78:5  For He established a testimony in Jacob and ordained Torah in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach their children,
78:6  so that the next generation might know, even the children yet to be born: they will arise and tell their children.
78:7  Then they will put their trust in God, not forgetting the works of God, but keeping His mitzvot.
78:8  So they will not be like their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, whose spirit was not loyal to God.
78:9  The sons of Ephraim were archers armed with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle.
78:10  They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to walk in His Torah.
78:11  They forgot His deeds and His wonders that He had shown them.
78:12  He did miracles in front of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Zoan.
78:13  He split the sea and led them through, and He made the water stand like a wall.
78:14  By day He led them with a cloud and all night with a light of fire.
78:15  He split apart rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
78:16  So He brought streams out of a rock, and made waters flow down like rivers.
78:17  Yet they added more sinning against Him, rebelling against Elyon in the desert.
78:18  They put God to the test in their heart by demanding food for their craving.
78:19  Then they spoke against God, saying, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?
78:20  See, He struck the rock, waters gushed out, streams overflowed. But can He give bread? Will He provide meat for His people?”
78:21  When Adonai heard, He was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, and fury also rose against Israel.
78:22  For they did not believe in God or trust in His salvation.
78:23  Yet He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
78:24  and rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them grain of heaven.
78:25  Man did eat the bread of angels. He sent them abundant provision.
78:26  He loosed the east wind in the skies, and by His power He drove the south wind.
78:27  He rained meat upon them like dust, and winged fowl like sand of the seas.
78:28  And He let it fall amidst their camp, all around their tents.
78:29  So they ate and were very full— for He gave them their desire.
78:30  No longer a stranger from their desire, while their food was still in their mouths,
78:31  the anger of God rose against them and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down young men of Israel.
78:32  Despite all this they sinned still more, and did not trust in His wonders.
78:33  So He ended their days in futility and their years in terror.
78:34  But when He slew them, then they sought Him, and turned back, and desired God eagerly.
78:35  Then they remembered that God was their Rock and El Elyon their Redeemer.
78:36  But they flattered Him with their mouth and kept lying to Him with their tongue.
78:37  For their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful to His covenant.
78:38  But He is compassionate, forgives iniquity and does not destroy. Yes, many times He restrains His anger, and does not stir up all His wrath.
78:39  For He remembered that they are but flesh, a passing breath that never returns.
78:40  How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!
78:41  Again and again they tested God, and pained the Holy One of Israel.
78:42  They did not remember His hand— the day He redeemed them from the foe,
78:43  when He displayed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the plain of Zoan.
78:44  He turned their rivers into blood, so they could not drink from their streams.
78:45  He sent on them flies to devour them, and frogs to devastate them,
78:46  and gave their crops to the grasshopper, and their labor to the locust.
78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost,
78:48  and gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to fiery bolts.
78:49  He sent on them the fury of His anger —wrath and indignation and trouble— a band of evil angels.
78:50  He cleared a path for His anger. He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague.
78:51  He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
78:52  But He brought His people out like sheep, and led them in the wilderness like a flock.
78:53  He led them to safety, so they did not fear, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
78:54  Then He brought them to His holy territory, to the mountain His right hand had gotten.
78:55  He drove out nations before them, and allotted them an inheritance. He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
78:56  Yet they tested and rebelled against El Elyon, and did not keep His decrees.
78:57  Like their fathers they turned and were treacherous. They turned aside like a faulty bow.
78:58  For they provoked Him with their high places, so they aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
78:59  God heard and was furious, and He greatly detested Israel.
78:60  He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He pitched among men.
78:61  He gave up His strength into captivity, and His glory into the adversary’s hand.
78:62  He gave His people over to the sword, when He was angry at His inheritance.
78:63  Fire consumed their young men, and their virgins had no wedding songs.
78:64  Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.
78:65  Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior shaking off wine.
78:66  He beat back His foes, putting them to lasting scorn.
78:67  Then He detested Joseph’s tent and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
78:68  Instead He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.
78:69  He built His Sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that He established forever.
78:70  He also chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds,
78:71  from following nursing ewes. He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.
78:72  So He shepherded them with the integrity of His heart, and led them with His skillful hands.