Psalm 78:1–31

^1aGive ear, O my people, to my ¹instruction;

^bIncline your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will ^aopen my mouth in a parable;

I will pour forth ^bdark sayings of old,

³Which we have heard and known,

And ^aour fathers have recounted to us.

⁴We will ^anot conceal them from their children,

But ^brecount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,

And His strength and His ^cwondrous deeds that He has done.

⁵For He established a ^atestimony in Jacob

And set a ^blaw in Israel,

Which He ^ccommanded our fathers

That they should ^1dteach them to their children,

^6aThat the generation to come might know, even ^bthe children yet to be born,

That they may arise and ^crecount them to their children,

⁷That they should set their confidence in God

And ^anot forget the deeds of God,

But ^bobserve His commandments,

⁸And ^anot be like their fathers,

A ^bstubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that ^cdid not ¹prepare its heart

And whose spirit was not ^dfaithful to God.

⁹The sons of Ephraim ¹were ^aarchers equipped with bows,

Yet ^bthey turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They ^adid not keep the covenant of God

And refused to ^bwalk in His law;

¹¹So they ^aforgot His acts

And His ¹wondrous deeds that He had shown them.

^12aHe did wonders before their fathers

In the land of Egypt, in the ^bfield of Zoan.

¹³He ^asplit the sea and caused them to pass through,

And He made the waters stand ^bup like a heap.

¹⁴Then He led them with the cloud by ^aday

And all the night with a ^blight of fire.

¹⁵He was ^asplitting the rocks in the wilderness

And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

¹⁶He ^abrought forth streams also from the cliff face

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they still continued to sin against Him,

To ^arebel against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸And in their heart they ^aput God to the test

By asking for ^bfood according to their desire.

¹⁹Then they spoke against God;

They said, “^aCan God prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰“Behold, He ^astruck the rock so that waters gushed out,

And streams were overflowing;

Can He give bread also?

Will He prepare ^1bmeat for His people?”

²¹Therefore Yahweh heard and ¹was ^afull of wrath;

And a fire was kindled against Jacob

And anger also mounted against Israel,

²²Because they ^adid not believe in God

And did not trust in His salvation.

²³Yet He commanded the skies above

And ^aopened the doors of heaven;

²⁴He ^arained down manna upon them to eat

And gave them ^bgrain from heaven.

²⁵Man ate the bread of ¹angels;

He sent them provision ^ato satisfy.

²⁶He ^aled forth the east wind in the heavens

And by His strength He guided the south wind.

²⁷Then He rained ¹meat upon them like the dust,

Even ^awinged fowl like the sand of the seas,

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

All around His dwelling places.

²⁹So they ^aate and were very satisfied,

And their desire He brought to them.

³⁰¹Before they had satisfied their desire,

^aWhile their food was in their mouths,

³¹The ^aanger of God rose against them

And killed ¹some of their ^bstoutest ones,

And ²subdued the choice men of Israel.