Psalm 76–150

Psalm 76

GOD, THE POWERFUL JUDGE

For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph.^d A song.

¹God is known in Judah;

his name is great in Israel.^e

²His tent is in Salem,

his dwelling place in Zion.^f

³There he shatters the bow’s flaming arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.^g

Selah

⁴You are resplendent and majestic

coming down from the mountains of prey.^h

⁵The brave-hearted have been plundered;

they have slipped into their final sleep.

None of the warriors was able to lift a hand.ⁱ

⁶At your rebuke, God of Jacob,

both chariot and horse lay still.^j

⁷And you—you are to be feared.^A

When you are angry,

who can stand before you?^k

⁸From heaven you pronounced judgment.

The earth feared and grew quiet^l

⁹when God rose up to judge

and to save all the lowly of the earth.^m

Selah

¹⁰Even human wrath will praise you;

you will clothe yourself

with the wrath that remains.^Bn

¹¹Make and keep your vows

to the Lord your God;^o

let all who are around him bring tribute

to the awe-inspiring one.^Cp

¹²He humbles the spirit of leaders;

he is feared by the kings of the earth.^q

Psalm 77

CONFIDENCE IN A TIME OF CRISIS

For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph.^r A psalm.

¹I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.^s

²I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.

My hands were continually lifted up

all night long;

I refused to be comforted.^t

³I think of God; I groan;

I meditate; my spirit becomes weak.^u

Selah

⁴You have kept me from closing my eyes;

I am troubled and cannot speak.^v

⁵I consider days of old,

years long past.^w

⁶At night I remember my music;

I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.^x

⁷“Will the Lord reject forever

and never again show favor?^y

⁸Has his faithful love ceased forever?

Is his promise at an end for all generations?^z

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”^aa

Selah

¹⁰So I say, “I am grieved

that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”^Bab

¹¹I will remember the Lord’s works;

yes, I will remember your ancient wonders.^ac

¹²I will reflect on all you have done

and meditate on your actions.^ad

¹³God, your way is holy.

What god is great like God?^ae

¹⁴You are the God who works wonders;

you revealed your strength among the peoples.^af

¹⁵With power you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.^ag

Selah

¹⁶The water saw you, God.

The water saw you; it trembled.

Even the depths shook.^ah

¹⁷The clouds poured down water.

The storm clouds thundered;

your arrows flashed back and forth.^a

¹⁸The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

lightning lit up the world.^b

The earth shook and quaked.^c

¹⁹Your way went through the sea

and your path through the vast water,

but your footprints were unseen.^d

²⁰You led your people like a flock^e

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.^f

Psalm 78

LESSONS FROM ISRAEL’S PAST

A Maskil of Asaph.^g

¹My people, hear my instruction;

listen to the words from my mouth.^h

²I will declare wise sayings;

I will speak mysteries from the pastⁱ—

³things we have heard and known

and that our ancestors have passed down to us.^j

⁴We will not hide them from their children,

but will tell a future generation

the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,

his might, and the wondrous works

he has performed.^k

⁵He established a testimony in Jacob

and set up a law in Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors

to teach to their children^l

⁶so that a future generation—

children yet to be born—might know.

They were to rise and tell their children^m

⁷so that they might put their confidence in God

and not forget God’s works,

but keep his commands.ⁿ

⁸Then they would not be like their ancestors,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose heart was not loyal

and whose spirit was not faithful to God.^o

⁹The Ephraimite archers turned back

on the day of battle.^p

¹⁰They did not keep God’s covenant

and refused to live by his law.^q

¹¹They forgot what he had done,

the wondrous works he had shown them.^r

¹²He worked wonders in the sight of their ancestors

in the land of Egypt, the territory of Zoan.^s

¹³He split the sea and brought them across;

the water stood firm like a wall.^t

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day

and with a fiery light throughout the night.^u

¹⁵He split rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.^v

¹⁶He brought streams out of the stone

and made water flow down like rivers.^w

¹⁷But they continued to sin against him,

rebelling in the desert against the Most High.^x

¹⁸They deliberately^A tested God,

demanding the food they craved.^y

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,

“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

²⁰Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;

torrents overflowed.^z

But can he also provide bread

or furnish meat for his people?”^aa

²¹Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;

then fire broke out against Jacob,

and anger flared up against Israel^ab

²²because they did not believe God

or rely on his salvation.^ac

²³He gave a command to the clouds above

and opened the doors of heaven.^ad

²⁴He rained manna for them to eat;

he gave them grain from heaven.^ae

²⁵People^B ate the bread of angels.^C

He sent them an abundant supply of food.^af

²⁶He made the east wind blow in the skies

and drove the south wind by his might.^ag

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust,

and winged birds like the sand of the seas.

²⁸He made them fall in the camp,

all around the tents.^a

²⁹The people ate and were completely satisfied,

for he gave them what they craved.^b

³⁰Before they had turned from what they craved,

while the food was still in their mouths,

³¹God’s anger flared up against them,

and he killed some of their best men.

He struck down Israel’s fit young men.^c

³²Despite all this, they kept sinning

and did not believe his wondrous works.^d

³³He made their days end in futility,

their years in sudden disaster.^e

³⁴When he killed some of them,

the rest began to seek him;

they repented and searched for God.^f

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock,

the Most High God, their Redeemer.^g

³⁶But they deceived him with their mouths,

they lied to him with their tongues,^h

³⁷their hearts were insincere toward him,

and they were unfaithful to his covenant.ⁱ

³⁸Yet he was compassionate;

he atoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them.

He often turned his anger aside

and did not unleash^A all his wrath.^j

³⁹He remembered that they were only flesh,

a wind that passes and does not return.^k

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him

in the wilderness

and grieved him in the desert.

⁴¹They constantly tested God^l

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.^m

⁴²They did not remember his power shown

on the day he redeemed them from the foe,ⁿ

⁴³when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt

and his wonders in the territory of Zoan.^o

⁴⁴He turned their rivers into blood,

and they could not drink from their streams.^p

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies,^q

which fed on them,

and frogs, which devastated them.^r

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the caterpillar

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.^s

⁴⁷He killed their vines with hail

and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.

⁴⁸He handed over their livestock to hail

and their cattle to lightning bolts.^t

⁴⁹He sent his burning anger against them:

fury, indignation, and calamity—

a band of deadly messengers.^Bu

⁵⁰He cleared a path for his anger.

He did not spare them from death

but delivered their lives to the plague.^v

⁵¹He struck all the firstborn^w in Egypt,

the first progeny of the tents of Ham.^x

⁵²He led his people out like sheep

and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.^y

⁵³He led them safely, and they were not afraid;

but the sea covered their enemies.^z

⁵⁴He brought them to his holy territory,

to the mountain his right hand acquired.^aa

⁵⁵He drove out nations before them.^ab

He apportioned their inheritance by lot

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.^ac

⁵⁶But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,

for they did not keep his decrees.^ad

⁵⁷They treacherously turned away like their ancestors;

they became warped like a faulty bow.^ae

⁵⁸They enraged him with their high places

and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.^a

⁵⁹God heard and became furious;

he completely rejected Israel.^b

⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,

the tent where he resided among mankind.^c

⁶¹He gave up his strength to captivity

and his splendor to the hand of a foe.^d

⁶²He surrendered his people to the sword

because he was enraged with his heritage.^e

⁶³Fire consumed his chosen young men,

and his young women had no wedding songs.^Af

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword,

and the widows could not lament.^g

⁶⁵The Lord awoke as if from sleep,

like a warrior from the effects of wine.^h

⁶⁶He beat back his foes;

he gave them lasting disgrace.ⁱ

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Joseph

and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸He chose instead the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loved.^j

⁶⁹He built his sanctuary like the heights,

like the earth that he established forever.^k

⁷⁰He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheep pens;^l

⁷¹he brought him from tending ewes

to be shepherd over his people Jacob—

over Israel, his inheritance.^m

⁷²He shepherded them with a pure heart

and guided them with his skillful hands.ⁿ

Psalm 79

FAITH AMID CONFUSION

A psalm of Asaph.^o

¹God, the nations have invaded your inheritance,

desecrated your holy temple,

and turned Jerusalem into ruins.^p

²They gave the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky for food,

the flesh of your faithful ones

to the beasts of the earth.^q

³They poured out their blood

like water all around Jerusalem,

and there was no one to bury them.^r

⁴We have become an object of reproach

to our neighbors,

a source of mockery and ridicule

to those around us.^s

⁵How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?^t

⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations

that don’t acknowledge you,

on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,^u

⁷for they have devoured Jacob

and devastated his…