PSALM 78

God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

A †Maskil of Asaph.

1 aListen, O my people, to my 1instruction;

bIncline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will aopen my mouth in a parable;

I will utter bdark sayings of old,

3 Which we have heard and known,

And aour fathers have told us.

4 We will anot conceal them from their children,

But btell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

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

5 For He established a atestimony in Jacob

And appointed a blaw in Israel,

Which He ccommanded our fathers

That they should 1dteach them to their children,

6 aThat the generation to come might know, even bthe children yet to be born,

That they may arise and ctell them to their children,

7 That they should put their confidence in God

And anot forget the works of God,

But bkeep His commandments,

8 And anot be like their fathers,

A bstubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that cdid not 1prepare its heart

And whose spirit was not dfaithful to God.

9 The sons of Ephraim 1were aarchers equipped with bows,

Yet bthey turned back in the day of battle.

10 They adid not keep the covenant of God

And refused to bwalk in His law;

11 They aforgot His deeds

And His 1miracles that He had shown them.

12 aHe wrought wonders before their fathers

In the land of Egypt, in the bfield of Zoan.

13 He adivided the sea and caused them to pass through,

And He made the waters stand bup like a heap.

14 Then He led them with the cloud by aday

And all the night with a blight of fire.

15 He asplit the rocks in the wilderness

And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

16 He abrought forth streams also from the rock

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,

To arebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 And in their heart they aput God to the test

By asking bfood according to their desire.

19 Then they spoke against God;

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

20 “Behold, He astruck the rock so that waters gushed out,

And streams were overflowing;

Can He give bread also?

Will He provide 1bmeat for His people?”

21 Therefore the Lord heard and 1was afull of wrath;

And a fire was kindled against Jacob

And anger also mounted against Israel,

22 Because they adid not believe in God

And did not trust in His salvation.

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above

And aopened the doors of heaven;

24 He arained down manna upon them to eat

And gave them 1bfood from heaven.

25 Man did eat the bread of 1angels;

He sent them 2food 3ain abundance.

26 He acaused the east wind to blow in the heavens

And by His 1power He directed the south wind.

27 When He rained 1meat upon them like the dust,

Even awinged fowl like the sand of the seas,

28 Then He let them fall in the midst of 1their camp,

Round about their dwellings.

29 So they aate and were well filled,

And their desire He gave to them.

30 1Before they had satisfied their desire,

aWhile their food was in their mouths,

31 The aanger of God rose against them

And killed 1some of their bstoutest ones,

And 2subdued the choice men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this they astill sinned

And bdid not believe in His wonderful works.

33 So He brought atheir days to an end in 1futility

And their years in sudden terror.

34 When He killed them, then they asought Him,

And returned and searched bdiligently for God;

35 And they remembered that God was their arock,

And the Most High God their bRedeemer.

36 But they adeceived Him with their mouth

And blied to Him with their tongue.

37 For their heart was not asteadfast toward Him,

Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

38 But He, being acompassionate, 1bforgave their iniquity and did not destroy them;

And often He 2crestrained His anger

And did not arouse all His wrath.

39 Thus aHe remembered that they were but bflesh,

A 1cwind that passes and does not return.

40 How often they arebelled against Him in the wilderness

And bgrieved Him in the cdesert!

41 Again and again they 1atempted God,

And pained the bHoly One of Israel.

42 They adid not remember bHis 1power,

The day when He credeemed them from the adversary,

43 When He performed His asigns in Egypt

And His bmarvels in the field of Zoan,

44 And aturned their rivers to blood,

And their streams, they could not drink.

45 He sent among them swarms of aflies which devoured them,

And bfrogs which destroyed them.

46 He gave also their crops to the agrasshopper

And the product of their labor to the blocust.

47 He 1destroyed their vines with ahailstones

And their sycamore trees with frost.

48 He gave over their acattle also to the hailstones

And their herds to bolts of lightning.

49 He asent upon them His burning anger,

Fury and indignation and trouble,

1A band of destroying angels.

50 He leveled a path for His anger;

He did not spare their soul from death,

But agave over their life to the plague,

51 And asmote all the firstborn in Egypt,

The bfirst issue of their virility in the tents of cHam.

52 But He aled forth His own people like sheep

And guided them in the wilderness blike a flock;

53 He led them asafely, so that they did not fear;

But bthe sea engulfed their enemies.

54 So aHe brought them to His holy 1land,

To this 2bhill country cwhich His right hand had gained.

55 He also adrove out the nations before them

And bapportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,

And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they 1atempted and brebelled against the Most High God

And did not keep His testimonies,

57 But turned back and aacted treacherously like their fathers;

They bturned aside like a treacherous bow.

58 For they aprovoked Him with their bhigh places

And caroused His jealousy with their dgraven images.

59 When God heard, He 1was filled with awrath

And greatly babhorred Israel;

60 So that He aabandoned the bdwelling place at Shiloh,

The tent 1which He had pitched among men,

61 And gave up His astrength to captivity

And His glory binto the hand of the adversary.

62 He also adelivered His people to the sword,

And 1was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

63 aFire devoured 1His young men,

And 1His bvirgins had no wedding songs.

64 1His apriests fell by the sword,

And 1His bwidows could not weep.

65 Then the Lord aawoke as if from sleep,

Like a bwarrior 1overcome by wine.

66 He 1adrove His adversaries backward;

He put on them an everlasting reproach.

67 He also arejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount aZion which He loved.

69 And He abuilt His sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has founded forever.

70 He also achose David His servant

And took him from the sheepfolds;

71 From 1athe care of the 2ewes bwith suckling lambs He brought him

To cshepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel dHis inheritance.

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

And guided them with his skillful hands.