Psalm 78:title–31

A maskil by Asaph. 

¹Open your ears to my teachings, my people. 

Turn your ears to the words from my mouth. 

²I will open my mouth to illustrate points. 

I will explain what has been hidden long ago, 

³things that we have heard and known about, 

things that our parents have told us. 

⁴We will not hide them from our children. 

We will tell the next generation 

about the Lord’s power and great deeds 

and the miraculous things he has done. 

⁵He established written instructions for Jacob’s people. 

He gave his teachings to Israel. 

He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children 

⁶so that the next generation would know them. 

Children yet to be born ⸤would learn them⸥. 

They will grow up and tell their children 

⁷to trust God, to remember what he has done, 

and to obey his commands. 

⁸Then they will not be like their ancestors, 

a stubborn and rebellious generation. 

Their hearts were not loyal. 

Their spirits were not faithful to God. 

⁹The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows ⸤and arrows⸥, 

turned ⸤and ran⸥ on the day of battle. 

¹⁰They had not been faithful to God’s promise.^a

They refused to follow his teachings. 

¹¹They forgot what he had done— 

the miracles that he had shown them. 

¹²In front of their ancestors he performed miracles 

in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 

¹³He divided the sea and led them through it. 

He made the waters stand up like a wall. 

¹⁴He guided them by a cloud during the day 

and by a fiery light throughout the night. 

¹⁵He split rocks in the desert. 

He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water. 

¹⁶He made streams come out of a rock. 

He made the water flow like rivers. 

¹⁷They continued to sin against him, 

to rebel in the desert against the Most High. 

¹⁸They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved. 

¹⁹They spoke against God by saying, 

“Can God prepare a banquet in the desert? 

²⁰True, he did strike a rock, 

and water did gush out, 

and the streams did overflow. 

But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?” 

²¹When the Lord heard this, he became furious. 

His fire burned against Jacob 

and his anger flared up at Israel 

²²because they did not believe God 

or trust him to save them. 

²³In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above 

and opened the doors of heaven. 

²⁴He rained manna down on them to eat 

and gave them grain from heaven. 

²⁵Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones, 

and God sent them plenty of food. 

²⁶He made the east wind blow in the heavens 

and guided the south wind with his might. 

²⁷He rained meat down on them like dust, 

birds like the sand on the seashore. 

²⁸He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp, 

all around his dwelling place. 

²⁹They ate more than enough. 

He gave them what they wanted, 

³⁰but they still wanted more. 

While the food was still in their mouths, 

³¹the anger of God flared up against them. 

He killed their strongest men 

and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.