Psalm 78:1–31

My people, listen to my teaching;

listen to what I say.

²I will speak using stories;

I will tell secret things from long ago.

³We have heard them and known them

by what our ancestors have told us.

⁴We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell those who come later

about the praises of the Lord.

We will tell about his power

and the miracles he has done.

⁵The Lord made an agreement with Jacob

and gave the teachings to Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors

to teach to their children.

⁶Then their children would know them,

even their children not yet born.

And they would tell their children.

⁷So they would all trust God

and would not forget what he had done

but would obey his commands.

⁸They would not be like their ancestors

who were stubborn and disobedient.

Their hearts were not loyal to God,

and they were not true to him.

⁹The men of Ephraim had bows for weapons,

but they ran away on the day of battle.

¹⁰They didn’t keep their agreement with God

and refused to live by his teachings.

¹¹They forgot what he had done

and the miracles he had shown them.

¹²He did miracles while their ancestors watched,

in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.

¹³He divided the Red Sea and led them through.

He made the water stand up like a wall.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day

and by the light of a fire by night.

¹⁵He split the rocks in the desert

and gave them more than enough water, as if from the deep ocean.

¹⁶He brought streams out of the rock

and caused water to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But the people continued to sin against him;

in the desert they turned against God Most High.

¹⁸They decided to test God

by asking for the food they wanted.

¹⁹Then they spoke against God,

saying, “Can God prepare food in the desert?

²⁰When he hit the rock, water poured out

and rivers flowed down.

But can he give us bread also?

Will he provide his people with meat?”

²¹When the Lord heard them, he was very angry.

His anger was like fire to the people of Jacob;

his anger grew against the people of Israel.

²²They had not believed God

and had not trusted him to save them.

²³But he gave a command to the clouds above

and opened the doors of heaven.

²⁴He rained manna down on them to eat;

he gave them grain from heaven.

²⁵So they ate the bread of angels.

He sent them all the food they could eat.

²⁶He sent the east wind from heaven

and led the south wind by his power.

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust.

The birds were as many as the sand of the sea.

²⁸He made the birds fall inside the camp,

all around the tents.

²⁹So the people ate and became very full.

God had given them what they wanted.

³⁰While they were still eating,

and while the food was still in their mouths,

³¹God became angry with them.

He killed some of the healthiest of them;

he struck down the best young men of Israel.