Psalm 78:1–72

¹Give ear, O my people, to my law;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in a ^bparable;

I will utter ²dark sayings of old,

³Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

^4cWe 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.

⁵For ^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;

^6gThat the generation to come might know them,

The children who would be born,

That they may arise and declare them to their children,

⁷That they may set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep His commandments;

⁸And ^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.

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

Turned back in the day of battle.

^10kThey did not keep the covenant of God;

They refused to walk in His law,

¹¹And ^lforgot His works

And His wonders that He had shown them.

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

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

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

And ^pHe made the waters stand up like a heap.

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

And all the night with a light of fire.

^15rHe split the rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

¹⁶He also brought ^sstreams out of the rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷But they sinned even more against Him

By ^trebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

¹⁸And ^uthey tested God in their heart

By asking for the food of their fancy.

^19vYes, they spoke against God:

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

^20wBehold, 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?”

²¹Therefore the Lord heard this and ^xwas furious;

So a fire was kindled against Jacob,

And anger also came up against Israel,

²²Because they ^ydid not believe in God,

And did not trust in His salvation.

²³Yet He had commanded the clouds above,

^zAnd opened the doors of heaven,

^24aHad rained down manna on them to eat,

And given them of the ⁵bread of ^bheaven.

²⁵Men ate angels’ food;

He sent them food to ⁶the full.

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

And by His power He brought in the south wind.

²⁷He also rained meat on them like the dust,

Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;

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

All around their dwellings.

^29dSo they ate and were well filled,

For He gave them their own desire.

³⁰They were not ⁷deprived of their craving;

But ^ewhile their food was still in their mouths,

³¹The wrath of God came against them,

And slew the stoutest of them,

And struck down the choice men of Israel.

³²In spite of this ^fthey still sinned,

And ^gdid not believe in His wondrous works.

^33hTherefore their days He consumed in futility,

And their years in fear.

³⁴ⁱWhen He slew them, then they sought Him;

And they returned and sought earnestly for God.

³⁵Then they remembered that ^jGod was their rock,

And the Most High God ^ktheir Redeemer.

³⁶Nevertheless they ^lflattered Him with their mouth,

And they lied to Him with their tongue;

³⁷For their heart was not steadfast with Him,

Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

^38mBut 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;

³⁹For ^qHe remembered ^rthat they were but flesh,

^sA breath that passes away and does not come again.

⁴⁰How often they ^tprovoked ⁸Him in the wilderness,

And grieved Him in the desert!

⁴¹Yes, ^uagain and again they tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember His ⁹power:

The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

⁴³When He worked His signs in Egypt,

And His wonders in the field of Zoan;

^44vTurned their rivers into blood,

And their streams, that they could not drink.

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

And ^xfrogs, which destroyed them.

⁴⁶He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,

And their labor to the ^ylocust.

^47zHe destroyed their vines with hail,

And their sycamore trees with frost.

⁴⁸He also gave up their ^acattle to the hail,

And their flocks to fiery ¹lightning.

⁴⁹He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,

Wrath, indignation, and trouble,

By sending angels of destruction among them.

⁵⁰He made a path for His anger;

He did not spare their soul from death,

But gave ²their life over to the plague,

⁵¹And destroyed all the ^bfirstborn in Egypt,

The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.

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

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

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

But the sea ^eoverwhelmed their enemies.

⁵⁴And He brought them to His ^fholy border,

This mountain ^gwhich His right hand had acquired.

^55hHe also drove out the nations before them,

ⁱAllotted them an inheritance by ³survey,

And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

^56jYet they tested and provoked the Most High God,

And did not keep His testimonies,

⁵⁷But ^kturned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;

They were turned aside ^llike a deceitful bow.

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

And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

⁵⁹When God heard this, He was furious,

And greatly abhorred Israel,

^60oSo that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

The tent He had placed among men,

^61pAnd delivered His strength into captivity,

And His glory into the enemy’s hand.

^62qHe also gave His people over to the sword,

And was furious with His inheritance.

⁶³The fire consumed their young men,

And ^rtheir maidens were not given in marriage.

^64sTheir priests fell by the sword,

And ^ttheir widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

^uLike a mighty man who shouts because of wine.

⁶⁶And ^vHe beat back His enemies;

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

⁶⁷Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion ^wwhich He loved.

⁶⁹And He built His ^xsanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has established forever.

^70yHe also chose David His servant,

And took him from the sheepfolds;

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

^aTo shepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel His inheritance.

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

And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.