Psalm 78

God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History

78A maskil of Asaph.^a

¹Listen, O my people, to my teaching.

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will offer^b a parable with my mouth.

I will pour out riddles from long ago,

³that we have heard and known,

and our ancestors^c have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children,^d

telling the next generation the praises of Yahweh,

and his power and his wonders that he has done.

⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob,

and appointed a law^e in Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors^f

to teach to their children,

⁶so that the next generation might know—

children yet to be born—

that they might rise up and tell their children,

⁷that they might set their confidence in God,

and not forget the deeds of God,

but keep his commandments,

⁸and not be like their ancestors,^g

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that did not make ready its heart,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The sons of Ephraim, armed with archers,^h

turned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep the covenant of God

and refused to go in his law.ⁱ

¹¹They also forgot his deeds,

and his wonders that he had shown them.

¹²In front of their ancestors^j he did a wonder,

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

¹³He split the sea and caused them to go over,

and he caused waters to stand like a heap.

¹⁴And he led them with the cloud by day,

and all night with a fiery light.

¹⁵He caused rocks to split in the wilderness

and provided drink abundantly as from the depths.

¹⁶And he brought streams out of the rock

and caused water to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But they sinned still further against him

by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸And they tested God in their heart

by asking food for their craving.^k

¹⁹And they spoke against God.

They said, “Is God able

to prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰Yes, he struck the rock and water flowed

and streams gushed out,

but can he also give food

or provide meat for his people?”

²¹Therefore Yahweh heard

and he was very angry,

and a fire was kindled against Jacob,

and his anger also rose up against Israel,

²²because they did not believe God,

and they did not trust his salvation.

²³Nevertheless, he commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of heaven,

²⁴and rained down on them manna to eat

and gave them the grain of heaven.

²⁵Humankind ate the bread of angels.^l

He sent them food enough to be satisfied.

²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens

and drove along the south wind by his strength.

²⁷Then he rained meat on them like dust,

even winged birds^m like the sand of the seas.

²⁸He caused them to fall in the midst of his camp,

all around his dwellings.

²⁹So they ate and were well filled,

and he brought about what they craved.

³⁰They had not yet turned aside from their craving,

while their food was still in their mouth,

³¹the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed some of the stoutest of them,

even the young men of Israel he caused to bow down in death.

³²In spite of all this they sinned further

and did not believe his wonders.

³³And he consumed their days with futility ⁿ

their years with terror.^o

³⁴When he killed some of them, then they sought him,

and repented and earnestly sought God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock,

and God Most High their redeemer.

³⁶But they enticed him with their mouth

and lied to him with their tongue.

³⁷For their heart was not steadfast with him,

nor were they faithful to his covenant.

³⁸But he was compassionate; he pardoned^p their guilt

and did not destroy them.

And many times he turned back his anger

and did not stir up all his wrath,

³⁹for he remembered that they were flesh,

a passing wind that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and vexed him in the wasteland!

⁴¹So they again tested God

and distressed^q the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²And they did not remember his power^r

when^s he redeemed them from the enemy,

⁴³how he performed^t his signs in Egypt

and his wonders in the region of Zoan,

⁴⁴when he turned their rivers^u to blood

so they could not drink from their streams.

⁴⁵He sent among them flies that devoured them

and frogs that destroyed them.

⁴⁶And he gave their crop to the locusts

and their labor to the locust.^v

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamore trees with sleet.^w

⁴⁸He also handed their cattle over to the hail

and their livestock to the lightning bolts.

⁴⁹He sent against them his fierce anger,

rage and indignation and trouble,

a band of destroying^x angels.

⁵⁰He cleared a path for his anger.

He did not spare them^y from death

but handed their life over to the plague.

⁵¹And he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,

the first of their virility in the tents of Ham.

⁵²Then he led out his people like sheep

and guided them like a herd in the wilderness.

⁵³And he led them safely and they were not afraid,

but the sea covered their enemies.

⁵⁴So he brought them to his holy territory,^z

this mountain his right hand acquired.^a

⁵⁵And he drove out nations before them

and allocated them for an inheritance by boundary line,

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶But they tested and rebelled against God Most High

and did not keep his statutes.

⁵⁷And they turned and were treacherous like their ancestors.^b

They twisted like a crooked^c bow.

⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places,

and made him jealous with their images.

⁵⁹God heard and he was very angry

and rejected Israel utterly.

⁶⁰So he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,

the tent he had placed among humankind.

⁶¹And he gave his strength into captivity

and his splendor into the hand of the enemy.

⁶²He also handed his people over to the sword,

and he was very angry with his inheritance.

⁶³Fire devoured his young men,

and his young women^d were not praised.

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword,

and his widows did not weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke like one who had been asleep,

awoke like a warrior who had been drunk with wine.^e

⁶⁶And he beat back his enemies;

he gave them over to perpetual scorn.

⁶⁷And he rejected the tent of Joseph,

and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸but chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion^f that he loved.

⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like the heights,

like the earth that he established forever.

⁷⁰And he chose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds.

⁷¹He brought him from following nursing ewes

to shepherd Jacob, his people,

and Israel, his inheritance.

⁷²And he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,

and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.