The Psalms (WEB)

Psalm 78

A contemplation by Asaph.

 ^78:1Hear my law, my people.
      Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

 ^78:2I will open my mouth in a parable.
      I will utter dark sayings of old,

 ^78:3Which we have heard and known,
      Our fathers have told us.

 ^78:4We will not hide them from their children,
      Telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
      His strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

 ^78:5For he established a testimony in Jacob,
      And appointed a law in Israel,
      Which he commanded our fathers,
      That they should make them known to their children;

 ^78:6That the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born;
      Who should arise and tell their children,

 ^78:7That they might set their hope in God,
      And not forget the works of God,
      But keep his commandments,

 ^78:8And might not be as their fathers,
      A stubborn and rebellious generation,
      A generation that didn't make their hearts loyal,
      Whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

 ^78:9The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
      Turned back in the day of battle.

 ^78:10They didn't keep the covenant of God,
      And refused to walk in his law.

 ^78:11They forgot his doings,
      His wondrous works that he had shown them.

 ^78:12Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
      In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

 ^78:13He split the sea, and caused them to pass through;
      He made the waters stand as a heap.

 ^78:14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
      All the night with a light of fire.

 ^78:15He split rocks in the wilderness,
      And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

 ^78:16He brought streams also out of the rock,
      And caused waters to run down like rivers.

 ^78:17Yet they still went on to sin against him,
      To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

 ^78:18They tempted God in their heart
      By asking food according to their desire.

 ^78:19Yes, they spoke against God.
      They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

 ^78:20Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,
      Streams overflowed.

 Can he give bread also?
      Will he provide flesh for his people?"

 ^78:21Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry.
      A fire was kindled against Jacob,
      Anger also went up against Israel,

 ^78:22Because they didn't believe in God,
      And didn't trust in his salvation.

 ^78:23Yet he commanded the skies above,
      And opened the doors of heaven.

 ^78:24He rained down manna on them to eat,
      And gave them food from the sky.

 ^78:25Man ate the bread of angels.
      He sent them food to the full.

 ^78:26He caused the east wind to blow in the sky.
      By his power he guided the south wind.

 ^78:27He rained also flesh on them as the dust;
      Winged birds as the sand of the seas.

 ^78:28He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
      Around their habitations.

 ^78:29So they ate, and were well filled.
      He gave them their own desire.

 ^78:30They didn't turn from their cravings.
      Their food was yet in their mouths,
      ^78:31When the anger of God went up against them,
      And killed some of the fattest of them,
      And struck down the young men of Israel.

 ^78:32For all this they still sinned,
      And didn't believe in his wondrous works.

 ^78:33Therefore he consumed their days in vanity,
      And their years in terror.

 ^78:34When he killed them, then they inquired after him.
      They returned and sought God earnestly.

 ^78:35They remembered that God was their rock,
      The Most High God their redeemer.

 ^78:36But they flattered him with their mouth,
      And lied to him with their tongue.

 ^78:37For their heart was not right with him,
      Neither were they faithful in his covenant.

 ^78:38But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn't destroy them.
      Yes, many times he turned his anger away,
      And didn't stir up all his wrath.

 ^78:39He remembered that they were but flesh,
      A wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

 ^78:40How often did they rebel against him in the wilderness,
      And grieve him in the desert!

 ^78:41They turned again and tempted God,
      And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

 ^78:42They didn't remember his hand,
      Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

 ^78:43How he set his signs in Egypt,
      His wonders in the field of Zoan,

 ^78:44Turned their rivers into blood,
      Their streams, so that they could not drink.

 ^78:45He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
      Frogs, which destroyed them.

 ^78:46He gave also their increase to the caterpillar,
      Their labor to the locust.

 ^78:47He destroyed their vines with hail,
      Their sycamore-fig trees with frost.

 ^78:48He gave over their cattle also to the hail,
      And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

 ^78:49He threw on them the fierceness of his anger,
      Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
      And a band of angels of evil.

 ^78:50He made a path for his anger.
      He didn't spare their soul from death,
      But gave their life over to the pestilence,

 ^78:51And struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
      The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

 ^78:52But he led forth his own people like sheep,
      And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

 ^78:53He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid,
      But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

 ^78:54He brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
      To this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

 ^78:55He also drove out the nations before them,
      Allotted them for an inheritance by line,
      And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

 ^78:56Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,
      And didn't keep his testimonies;

 ^78:57But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers.
      They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

 ^78:58For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
      And moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.

 ^78:59When God heard this, he was angry,
      And greatly abhorred Israel;

 ^78:60So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh,
      The tent which he placed among men;

 ^78:61And delivered his strength into captivity,
      His glory into the adversary's hand.

 ^78:62He also gave his people over to the sword,
      And was angry with his inheritance.

 ^78:63Fire devoured their young men;
      Their virgins had no wedding song.

 ^78:64Their priests fell by the sword;
      Their widows made no lamentation.

 ^78:65Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,
      Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

 ^78:66He struck his adversaries backward.
      He put them to a perpetual reproach.

 ^78:67Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
      And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim,

 ^78:68But chose the tribe of Judah,
      Mount Zion which he loved.

 ^78:69He built his sanctuary like the heights,
      Like the earth which he has established forever.

 ^78:70He also chose David his servant,
      And took him from the sheepfolds;

 ^78:71From following the ewes that have their young he brought him
      To be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

 ^78:72So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,
      And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

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