Psalm 78:title–31

God and His People^u

78 Listen, my people, to my teaching,

and pay attention to what I say.

^2*I am going to use wise sayings

and explain mysteries from the past,

³things we have heard and known,

things that our ancestors told us.

⁴We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s power and his great deeds

and the wonderful things he has done.

⁵He gave laws to the people of Israel

and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.

He instructed our ancestors

to teach his laws to their children,

⁶so that the next generation might learn them

and in turn should tell their children.

⁷In this way they also would put their trust in God

and not forget what he has done,

but always obey his commandments.

⁸They would not be like their ancestors,

a rebellious and disobedient people,

whose trust in God was never firm

and who did not remain faithful to him.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,

ran away on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep their covenant with God;

they refused to obey his law.

¹¹They forgot what he had done,

the miracles they had seen him perform.

^12*While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles

in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

^13*He divided the sea and took them through it;

he made the waters stand like walls.

^14*By day he led them with a cloud

and all night long with the light of a fire.

^15*He split rocks open in the desert

and gave them water from the depths.

^16*He caused a stream to come out of the rock

and made water flow like a river.

¹⁷But they continued to sin against God,

and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.

^18*They deliberately put God to the test

by demanding the food they wanted.

^19*They spoke against God and said,

“Can God supply food in the desert?

^20*It is true that he struck the rock,

and water flowed out in a torrent;

but can he also provide us with bread

and give his people meat?”

^21*And so the Lord was angry when he heard them;

he attacked his people with fire,

and his anger against them grew,

^22*because they had no faith in him

and did not believe that he would save them.

^23*But he spoke to the sky above

and commanded its doors to open;

^24*he gave them grain from heaven,

by sending down manna for them to eat.

^25*So they ate the food of angels,

and God gave them all they wanted.

^26*He also caused the east wind to blow,

and by his power he stirred up the south wind;

^27*and to his people he sent down birds,

as many as the grains of sand on the shore;

^28*they fell in the middle of the camp

all round the tents.

^29*So the people ate and were satisfied;

God gave them what they wanted.

^30*But they had not yet satisfied their craving

and were still eating,

^31*when God became angry with them

and killed their strongest men,

the best young men of Israel.