Psalm 78

PSALM 78

God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

A ^†Maskil of Asaph.

^1aListen, 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 utter ^bdark sayings of old,

³Which we have heard and known,

And ^aour fathers have told us.

⁴We will ^anot conceal them from their children,

But ^btell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

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

⁵For He established a ^atestimony in Jacob

And appointed 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 ^ctell them to their children,

⁷That they should put their confidence in God

And ^anot forget the works of God,

But ^bkeep 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;

¹¹They ^aforgot His deeds

And His ¹miracles that He had shown them.

^12aHe wrought wonders before their fathers

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

¹³He ^adivided 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 ^asplit the rocks in the wilderness

And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

¹⁶He ^abrought forth streams also from the rock

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 ^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 provide ^1bmeat for His people?”

²¹Therefore the Lord 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 clouds above

And ^aopened the doors of heaven;

²⁴He ^arained down manna upon them to eat

And gave them ^1bfood from heaven.

²⁵Man did eat the bread of ¹angels;

He sent them ²food ^3ain abundance.

²⁶He ^acaused the east wind to blow in the heavens

And by His ¹power He directed the south wind.

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

Even ^awinged fowl like the sand of the seas,

²⁸Then He let them fall in the midst of ¹their camp,

Round about their dwellings.

²⁹So they ^aate and were well filled,

And their desire He gave 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.

³²In spite of all this they ^astill sinned

And ^bdid not believe in His wonderful works.

³³So He brought ^atheir days to an end in ¹futility

And their years in sudden terror.

³⁴When He killed them, then they ^asought Him,

And returned and searched ^bdiligently for God;

³⁵And they remembered that God was their ^arock,

And the Most High God their ^bRedeemer.

³⁶But they ^adeceived Him with their mouth

And ^blied to Him with their tongue.

³⁷For their heart was not ^asteadfast toward Him,

Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

³⁸But He, being ^acompassionate, ^1bforgave their iniquity and did not destroy them;

And often He ^2crestrained His anger

And did not arouse all His wrath.

³⁹Thus ^aHe remembered that they were but ^bflesh,

A ^1cwind that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰How often they ^arebelled against Him in the wilderness

And ^bgrieved Him in the ^cdesert!

⁴¹Again and again they ^1atempted God,

And pained the ^bHoly One of Israel.

⁴²They ^adid not remember ^bHis ¹power,

The day when He ^credeemed them from the adversary,

⁴³When He performed His ^asigns in Egypt

And His ^bmarvels in the field of Zoan,

⁴⁴And ^aturned their rivers to blood,

And their streams, they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of ^aflies which devoured them,

And ^bfrogs which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave also their crops to the ^agrasshopper

And the product of their labor to the ^blocust.

⁴⁷He ¹destroyed their vines with ^ahailstones

And their sycamore trees with frost.

⁴⁸He gave over their ^acattle also to the hailstones

And their herds to bolts of lightning.

⁴⁹He ^asent upon them His burning anger,

Fury and indignation and trouble,

¹A band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He leveled a path for His anger;

He did not spare their soul from death,

But ^agave over their life to the plague,

⁵¹And ^asmote all the firstborn in Egypt,

The ^bfirst issue of their virility in the tents of ^cHam.

⁵²But He ^aled forth His own people like sheep

And guided them in the wilderness ^blike a flock;

⁵³He led them ^asafely, so that they did not fear;

But ^bthe sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴So ^aHe brought them to His holy ¹land,

To this ^2bhill country ^cwhich His right hand had gained.

⁵⁵He also ^adrove out the nations before them

And ^bapportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,

And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they ^1atempted and ^brebelled against the Most High God

And did not keep His testimonies,

⁵⁷But turned back and ^aacted treacherously like their fathers;

They ^bturned aside like a treacherous bow.

⁵⁸For they ^aprovoked Him with their ^bhigh places

And ^caroused His jealousy with their ^dgraven images.

⁵⁹When God heard, He ¹was filled with ^awrath

And greatly ^babhorred Israel;

⁶⁰So that He ^aabandoned the ^bdwelling place at Shiloh,

The tent ¹which He had pitched among men,

⁶¹And gave up His ^astrength to captivity

And His glory ^binto the hand of the adversary.

⁶²He also ^adelivered His people to the sword,

And ¹was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

^63aFire devoured ¹His young men,

And His ^bvirgins had no wedding songs.

⁶⁴¹His ^apriests fell by the sword,

And His ^bwidows could not weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord ^aawoke as if from sleep,

Like a ^bwarrior ¹overcome by wine.

⁶⁶He ^1adrove His adversaries backward;

He put on them an everlasting reproach.

⁶⁷He also ^arejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount ^aZion which He loved.

⁶⁹And He ^abuilt His sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has founded forever.

⁷⁰He also ^achose David His servant

And took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹From ^1athe care of the ²ewes ^bwith suckling lambs He brought him

To ^cshepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel ^dHis inheritance.

⁷²So he shepherded them according to the ^aintegrity of his heart,

And guided them with his skillful hands.