Psalm 78

A Maskil of Asaph.

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
   that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
   but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done.

⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
   to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
   ⁷ so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot his works
   and the wonders that he had shown them.
¹² In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all the night with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks in the wilderness
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying,
   “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ He struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
   or provide meat for his people?”

²¹ Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob;
   his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God
   and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above
   and opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴ and he rained down on them manna to eat
   and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Man ate of the bread of the angels;
   he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ he rained meat on them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
   all around their dwellings.
²⁹ And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them,
   and he killed the strongest of them
   and laid low the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they still sinned;
   despite his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
   they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate,
   atoned for their iniquity
   and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
   and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
   and grieved him in the desert!
⁴¹ They tested God again and again
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember his power
   or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³ when he performed his signs in Egypt
   and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood,
   so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
   and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the destroying locust
   and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail
   and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail
   and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He let loose on them his burning anger,
   wrath, indignation, and distress,
   a company of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger;
   he did not spare them from death,
   but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
   the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² Then he led out his people like sheep
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to his holy land,
   to the mountain which his right hand had won.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them;
   he apportioned them for a possession
   and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶ Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
   and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷ but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
   they twisted like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
   they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of wrath,
   and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
   the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹ and delivered his power to captivity,
   his glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword
   and vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³ Fire devoured their young men,
   and their young women had no marriage song.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
   and their widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
   like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶ And he put his adversaries to rout;
   he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph;
   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
   Mount Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
   like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant
   and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from following the nursing ewes he brought him
   to shepherd Jacob his people,
   Israel his inheritance.
⁷² With upright heart he shepherded them
   and guided them with his skillful hand.

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Scripture taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.