Psalm 78

God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel

A aContemplation 1Of Asaph.

1 Give ear, O my people, to my law;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a bparable;

I will utter 2dark sayings of old,

3 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

4 cWe will not hide them from their children,

dTelling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

5 For eHe established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which He commanded our fathers,

That fthey should make them known to their children;

6 gThat the generation to come might know them,

The children who would be born,

That they may arise and declare them to their children,

7 That they may set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep His commandments;

8 And hmay not be like their fathers,

iA stubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation jthat did not 3set its heart aright,

And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and 4carrying bows,

Turned back in the day of battle.

10 kThey did not keep the covenant of God;

They refused to walk in His law,

11 And lforgot His works

And His wonders that He had shown them.

12 mMarvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,

In the land of Egypt, nin the field of Zoan.

13 oHe divided the sea and caused them to pass through;

And pHe made the waters stand up like a heap.

14 qIn the daytime also He led them with the cloud,

And all the night with a light of fire.

15 rHe split the rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

16 He also brought sstreams out of the rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 But they sinned even more against Him

By trebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

18 And uthey tested God in their heart

By asking for the food of their fancy.

19 vYes, they spoke against God:

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

20 wBehold, He struck the rock,

So that the waters gushed out,

And the streams overflowed.

Can He give bread also?

Can He provide meat for His people?”

21 Therefore the Lord heard this and xwas furious;

So a fire was kindled against Jacob,

And anger also came up against Israel,

22 Because they ydid not believe in God,

And did not trust in His salvation.

23 Yet He had commanded the clouds above,

zAnd opened the doors of heaven,

24 aHad rained down manna on them to eat,

And given them of the 5bread of bheaven.

25 Men ate angels’ food;

He sent them food to 6the full.

26 cHe caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;

And by His power He brought in the south wind.

27 He also rained meat on them like the dust,

Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;

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

All around their dwellings.

29 dSo they ate and were well filled,

For He gave them their own desire.

30 They were not 7deprived of their craving;

But ewhile their food was still in their mouths,

31 The wrath of God came against them,

And slew the stoutest of them,

And struck down the choice men of Israel.

32 In spite of this fthey still sinned,

And gdid not believe in His wondrous works.

33 hTherefore their days He consumed in futility,

And their years in fear.

34 iWhen He slew them, then they sought Him;

And they returned and sought earnestly for God.

35 Then they remembered that jGod was their rock,

And the Most High God ktheir Redeemer.

36 Nevertheless they lflattered Him with their mouth,

And they lied to Him with their tongue;

37 For their heart was not steadfast with Him,

Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

38 mBut He, being full of ncompassion, forgave their iniquity,

And did not destroy them.

Yes, many a time oHe turned His anger away,

And pdid not stir up all His wrath;

39 For qHe remembered rthat they were but flesh,

sA breath that passes away and does not come again.

40 How often they tprovoked 8Him in the wilderness,

And grieved Him in the desert!

41 Yes, uagain and again they tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember His 9power:

The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

43 When He worked His signs in Egypt,

And His wonders in the field of Zoan;

44 vTurned their rivers into blood,

And their streams, that they could not drink.

45 wHe sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,

And xfrogs, which destroyed them.

46 He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,

And their labor to the ylocust.

47 zHe destroyed their vines with hail,

And their sycamore trees with frost.

48 He also gave up their acattle to the hail,

And their flocks to fiery 1lightning.

49 He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,

Wrath, indignation, and trouble,

By sending angels of destruction among them.

50 He made a path for His anger;

He did not spare their soul from death,

But gave 2their life over to the plague,

51 And destroyed all the bfirstborn in Egypt,

The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But He cmade His own people go forth like sheep,

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

53 And He dled them on safely, so that they did not fear;

But the sea eoverwhelmed their enemies.

54 And He brought them to His fholy border,

This mountain gwhich His right hand had acquired.

55 hHe also drove out the nations before them,

iAllotted them an inheritance by 3survey,

And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

56 jYet they tested and provoked the Most High God,

And did not keep His testimonies,

57 But kturned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;

They were turned aside llike a deceitful bow.

58 mFor they provoked Him to anger with their nhigh places,

And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

59 When God heard this, He was furious,

And greatly abhorred Israel,

60 oSo that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

The tent He had placed among men,

61 pAnd delivered His strength into captivity,

And His glory into the enemy’s hand.

62 qHe also gave His people over to the sword,

And was furious with His inheritance.

63 The fire consumed their young men,

And rtheir maidens were not given in marriage.

64 sTheir priests fell by the sword,

And ttheir widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

uLike a mighty man who shouts because of wine.

66 And vHe beat back His enemies;

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion wwhich He loved.

69 And He built His xsanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has established forever.

70 yHe also chose David His servant,

And took him from the sheepfolds;

71 From following zthe ewes that had young He brought him,

aTo shepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel His inheritance.

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

And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.