Psalm 78:43–68

⁴³They forgot the signs he did in Egypt

and his wonders in the fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood

so no one could drink the water.

⁴⁵He sent flies that bit the people.

He sent frogs that destroyed them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to grasshoppers

and what they worked for to locusts.

⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamore trees with sleet.

⁴⁸He killed their animals with hail

and their cattle with lightning.

⁴⁹He showed them his hot anger.

He sent his strong anger against them,

his destroying angels.

⁵⁰He found a way to show his anger.

He did not keep them from dying

but let them die by a terrible disease.

⁵¹God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt,

the oldest son of each family of Ham. ⁿ

⁵²But God led his people out like sheep

and he guided them like a flock through the desert.

⁵³He led them to safety so they had nothing to fear,

but their enemies drowned in the sea.

⁵⁴So God brought them to his holy land,

to the mountain country he took with his own power.

⁵⁵He forced out the other nations,

and he had his people inherit the land.

He let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents.

⁵⁶But they tested God

and turned against God Most High;

they did not keep his rules.

⁵⁷They turned away and were disloyal just like their ancestors.

They were like a crooked bow that does not shoot straight.

⁵⁸They made God angry by building places to worship gods;

they made him jealous with their idols.

⁵⁹When God heard them, he became very angry

and rejected the people of Israel completely.

⁶⁰He left his dwelling at Shiloh,

the Tent where he lived among the people.

⁶¹He let the Ark, his power, be captured;

he let the Ark, his glory, be taken by enemies.

⁶²He let his people be killed;

he was very angry with his children.

⁶³The young men died by fire,

and the young women had no one to marry.

⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword,

but their widows were not allowed to cry.

⁶⁵Then the Lord got up as if he had been asleep;

he awoke like a man who had been drunk with wine.

⁶⁶He struck down his enemies

and disgraced them forever.

⁶⁷But God rejected the family of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah

and Mount Zion, which he loves.