Psalm 78:43–68

⁴³and performed his mighty acts and miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

^44*He turned the rivers into blood,

and the Egyptians had no water to drink.

^45*He sent flies among them, that tormented them,

and frogs that ruined their land.

^46*He sent locusts to eat their crops

and to destroy their fields.

^47*He killed their grapevines with hail

and their fig trees with frost.

^48*He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.^v

⁴⁹He caused them great distress

by pouring out his anger and fierce rage,

which came as messengers of death.

⁵⁰He did not restrain his anger

or spare their lives,

but killed them with a plague.

^51*He killed the firstborn sons

of all the families of Egypt.

^52*Then he led his people out like a shepherd

and guided them through the desert.

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

but the sea came rolling over their enemies.

^54*He brought them to his holy land,

to the mountains which he himself conquered.

^55*He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;

he divided their land among the tribes of Israel

and gave their homes to his people.

^56*But they rebelled against Almighty God

and put him to the test.

They did not obey his commandments,

⁵⁷but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors,

unreliable as a crooked arrow.

⁵⁸They angered him with their heathen places of worship,

and with their idols they made him furious.

⁵⁹God was angry when he saw it,

so he rejected his people completely.

^60*He abandoned his tent in Shiloh,^w

the home where he had lived among us.

^61*He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box,

the symbol of his power and glory.

⁶²He was angry with his own people

and let them be killed by their enemies.

⁶³Young men were killed in war,

and young women had no one to marry.

⁶⁴Priests died by violence,

and their widows were not allowed to mourn.

⁶⁵At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep;

he was like a strong man excited by wine.

⁶⁶He drove his enemies back

in lasting and shameful defeat.

⁶⁷But he rejected the descendants of Joseph;

he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸Instead he chose the tribe of Judah

and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.