Psalm 78:14–40

¹⁴In the daytime he led them by a cloud,

and all night by a pillar of fire.

¹⁵He split open the rocks in the wilderness

to give them water, as from a gushing spring.

¹⁶He made streams pour from the rock,

making the waters flow down like a river!

¹⁷Yet they kept on sinning against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,

demanding the foods they craved.

¹⁹They even spoke against God himself, saying,

“God can’t give us food in the wilderness.

²⁰Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,

but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”

²¹When the Lord heard them, he was furious.

The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.

Yes, his anger rose against Israel,

²²for they did not believe God

or trust him to care for them.

²³But he commanded the skies to open;

he opened the doors of heaven.

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat;

he gave them bread from heaven.

²⁵They ate the food of angels!

God gave them all they could hold.

²⁶He released the east wind in the heavens

and guided the south wind by his mighty power.

²⁷He rained down meat as thick as dust—

birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!

²⁸He caused the birds to fall within their camp

and all around their tents.

²⁹The people ate their fill.

He gave them what they craved.

³⁰But before they satisfied their craving,

while the meat was yet in their mouths,

³¹the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed their strongest men.

He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

³²But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.

Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.

³³So he ended their lives in failure,

their years in terror.

³⁴When God began killing them,

they finally sought him.

They repented and took God seriously.

³⁵Then they remembered that God was their rock,

that God Most High was their redeemer.

³⁶But all they gave him was lip service;

they lied to him with their tongues.

³⁷Their hearts were not loyal to him.

They did not keep his covenant.

³⁸Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins

and did not destroy them all.

Many times he held back his anger

and did not unleash his fury!

³⁹For he remembered that they were merely mortal,

gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

⁴⁰Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.