Psalm 78

Psalm LXXVIII.

Maschil of Asaph.

^aGive ear, O my people, to my law:

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

^2bI will open my mouth in a ^cparable:

I will ^dutter ^edark sayings of old:

³Which we have heard and known,

And ^four fathers have told us.

^4gWe will not hide them from their children,

^hShewing to the generation to come

The praises of the Lord, and his strength,

And ⁱhis wonderful works that he hath done.

⁵For he established ^ja testimony in ^kJacob,

And appointed a law in ^kIsrael,

Which he commanded our fathers,

^gThat they should make them known to their children:

⁶That ^lthe generation to come might know them, even ^mthe children which should be born;

Who should arise and ^gdeclare them to their children:

⁷That they might set their ⁿhope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But ⁿⁿkeep his commandments:

⁸And ^omight not be as their fathers,

A ^pqstubborn and ^prrebellious generation;

A generation that set not their heart aright,

And whose spirit was not ^sstedfast with God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, being ^tarmed, and carrying ^tubows,

^wTurned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God,

And refused to walk in his law;

¹¹And ^xforgat his works,

And ⁱhis wonders that he had shewed them.

^12yMarvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,

In the land of Egypt, in ^zthe field of Zoan.

¹³He ^adivided the sea, and caused them to pass through;

And he ^bmade the waters to stand as a heap.

^14cIn the daytime also he led them with a cloud,

And all the night with a light of fire.

^15dHe clave the rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink as out of the great depths.

¹⁶He brought ^ddstreams also out of ^ethe rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him

By ^fprovoking the most High in the ^gwilderness.

¹⁸And ^hthey tempted God in their heart

By asking meat for their lust.

¹⁹Yea, they spake against God; they said,

ⁱCan God furnish a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Behold, ^jhe smote the rock, that ^kthe waters gushed out,

And the streams overflowed;

Can he give bread also?

Can he ^lprovide flesh for his people?

²¹Therefore the Lord heard this, and ^mwas wroth:

So ⁿa fire was kindled against ^oJacob,

And anger also ^pcame up against ^oIsrael;

²²Because they ^qbelieved not in God,

And trusted not in his salvation:

²³Though he had commanded the clouds from above,

And ^ropened the doors of heaven,

²⁴And had ^srained down manna upon them to eat,

And had given them of ^tthe corn of heaven.

²⁵Man did eat ^uangels’ food:

He sent them meat ^wto the full.

²⁶He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:

And by his power he ^xbrought in the south wind.

²⁷He rained flesh also upon them ^yas dust,

And feathered fowls like ^zas the sand of the sea:

^28aAnd he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

Round about their habitations.

^29bSo they did eat, and were well filled:

For he gave them their own ^cdesire;

³⁰They were not estranged from their ^clust.

But ^dwhile their meat was yet in their mouths,

³¹The wrath of God ^ecame upon them,

And slew the ^ffattest of them,

And smote down the chosen men of Israel.

³²For all this ^gthey sinned still,

And ^hbelieved not for his wondrous works.

³³Therefore ⁱtheir days did he consume in ^kvanity,

And their years in trouble.

³⁴When he slew them, then they ^lsought him:

And they ^lreturned and ^lminquired early after God.

³⁵And they remembered that ⁿGod was their rock,

And the high God ^otheir redeemer.

³⁶Nevertheless they did ^pflatter him with their mouth,

And they ^qlied unto him with their tongues.

³⁷For ^rtheir heart was not ^sright with him,

Neither were they ^hstedfast in his covenant.

³⁸But he, being ^tfull of compassion, ^uforgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:

Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,

And did not stir up all his wrath.

³⁹For ^whe remembered that they were but ^xflesh;

^wyA wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

⁴⁰How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,

And ^zgrieve him in ^athe desert!

⁴¹Yea, they turned back and ^btempted God,

And ^climited the ^dHoly One of Israel.

⁴²They ^eremembered not his hand:

Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

^43fHow he had wrought his ^gsigns in Egypt,

And his ^ghwonders in ⁱthe field of Zoan:

⁴⁴And ^khad turned their rivers into blood;

And their ^lfloods, that they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent ^mdivers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;

And ⁿfrogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave also their increase unto ^othe caterpillar,

And their labour unto ^pthe locust.

^47qHe destroyed their vines with hail,

And their ^rsycomore trees with frost.

⁴⁸He gave up their cattle also to the hail,

And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,

Wrath, and indignation, and trouble,

^sBy sending evil angels among them.

⁵⁰He made a way to his anger;

He spared not their soul from death,

But ^tgave their life over to the pestilence;

⁵¹And ^usmote all the firstborn in Egypt;

^xThe chief of their strength in the tabernacles ^yof Ham:

⁵²But ^zmade his own people to go forth ^alike sheep,

And ^zguided them in the wilderness like a flock.

⁵³And ^bhe ^aled them on safely, so that they feared not:

But ^cthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴And he brought them to the border of his ^dsanctuary,

Even to this ^demountain, which his right hand had purchased.

^55fHe cast out the heathen also before them,

And ^gdivided them an inheritance by ^hline,

And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶ⁱYet they ^ktempted and ^lprovoked the most high God,

And kept not his testimonies:

⁵⁷But ^mturned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers:

They were turned aside ⁿlike a deceitful bow.

⁵⁸For they ^oprovoked him to anger with their ^phigh places,

And ^qmoved him to jealousy with their ^rgraven images.

⁵⁹When God heard this, he ^swas wroth,

And greatly ^tabhorred Israel:

^60uSo that he forsook the ^vtabernacle of ^wShiloh,

^xThe tent which he ^uplaced among men;

⁶¹And delivered ^yhis strength into ^zcaptivity,

And his glory into the enemy’s hand.

⁶²He ^agave his people over also ^bunto the sword;

And ^cwas wroth with his inheritance.

⁶³The fire consumed their young men;

And their maidens were not given to marriage.

^64dTheir priests fell by the sword;

^eAnd their widows ^fmade no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the Lord ^gawaked as one out of sleep,

And ^hlike a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

⁶⁶And ⁱhe smote his enemies in the hinder parts:

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷Moreover he ^jrefused the tabernacle of ^jjJoseph,

And chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,

The mount Zion ^kwhich he loved.

⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,

Like the earth which he hath established for ever.

^70mHe chose David also his servant,

And took him from the ⁿsheepfolds:

⁷¹From following the ewes ^ogreat with young he brought him

To ^pfeed ^qJacob his people,

And ^qIsrael ^rhis inheritance.

⁷²So he fed them according to the ^sintegrity of his heart;

And ^tguided them by the skilfulness of his hands.