Psalms 78

¹ A maskil of Asaph. Attend, my people, to my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth in story, drawing lessons from of old.

³ We have heard them, we know them; our ancestors have recited them to us.

⁴ We do not keep them from our children; we recite them to the next generation, The praiseworthy and mighty deeds of the LORD, the wonders that he performed.

⁵ God set up a decree in Jacob, established a law in Israel: What he commanded our ancestors, they were to teach their children;

⁶ That the next generation might come to know, children yet to be born. In turn they were to recite them to their children,

⁷ that they too might put their trust in God, And not forget the works of God, keeping his commandments.

⁸ They were not to be like their ancestors, a rebellious and defiant generation, A generation whose heart was not constant, whose spirit was not faithful to God,

⁹ Like the ranks of Ephraimite archers, who retreated on the day of battle.

¹⁰ They did not keep God's covenant; they refused to walk by his law.

¹¹ They forgot his works, the wondrous deeds he had shown them.

¹² In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders, in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.

¹³ He split the sea and led them across, piling up the waters rigid as walls.

¹⁴ God led them with a cloud by day, all night with the light of fire.

¹⁵ He split rock in the desert, gave water to drink, abounding as the deep.

¹⁶ He made streams flow from crags, drew out rivers of water.

¹⁷ But they went on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts, demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹ They spoke against God, and said, "Can God spread a table in the desert?

²⁰ True, when he struck the rock, water gushed forth, the wadis flooded. But can he also provide bread, give meat to his people?"

²¹ The LORD heard and grew angry; fire blazed up against Jacob; anger flared up against Israel.

²² For they did not believe in God, did not trust in his saving power.

²³ So he commanded the skies above; the doors of heaven he opened.

²⁴ God rained manna upon them for food; bread from heaven he gave them.

²⁵ All ate a meal fit for heroes; food he sent in abundance.

²⁶ He stirred up the east wind in the heavens; by his power God brought on the south wind.

²⁷ He rained meat upon them like dust, winged fowl like the sands of the sea,

²⁸ Brought them down in the midst of the camp, round about their tents.

²⁹ They ate and were well filled; he gave them what they had craved.

³⁰ But while they still wanted more, and the food was still in their mouths,

³¹ God's anger attacked them, killed their best warriors, laid low the youth of Israel.

³² In spite of all this they went on sinning, they did not believe in his wonders.

³³ God ended their days abruptly, their years in sudden death.

³⁴ When he slew them, they began to seek him; they again inquired of their God.

³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, God Most High, their redeemer.

³⁶ But they deceived him with their mouths, lied to him with their tongues.

³⁷ Their hearts were not constant toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.

³⁸ But God is merciful and forgave their sin; he did not utterly destroy them. Time and again he turned back his anger, unwilling to unleash all his rage.

³⁹ He was mindful that they were flesh, a breath that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against God in the desert, grieved him in the wasteland.

⁴¹ Again and again they tested God, provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴² They did not remember his power, the day he redeemed them from the foe,

⁴³ When he displayed his wonders in Egypt, his marvels in the plain of Zoan.

⁴⁴ God changed their rivers to blood; their streams they could not drink.

⁴⁵ He sent insects that devoured them, frogs that destroyed them.

⁴⁶ He gave their harvest to the caterpillar, the fruits of their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hail, their sycamores with frost.

⁴⁸ He exposed their flocks to deadly hail, their cattle to lightning.

⁴⁹ He unleashed against them his fiery breath, roar, fury, and distress, storming messengers of death.

⁵⁰ He cleared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death; he delivered their beasts to the plague.

⁵¹ He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, love's first child in the tents of Ham.

⁵² God led forth his people like sheep; he guided them through the desert like a flock.

⁵³ He led them on secure and unafraid, but the sea enveloped their enemies.

⁵⁴ He brought them to his holy land, the mountain his right hand had won.

⁵⁵ God drove out the nations before them, apportioned them a heritage by lot, settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶ But they tested, rebelled against God Most High, his decrees they did not observe.

⁵⁷ They turned back, deceitful like their ancestors; they proved false like a bow with no tension.

⁵⁸ They enraged him with their high places; with their idols they goaded him.

⁵⁹ God heard and grew angry; he rejected Israel completely.

⁶⁰ He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt with humans.

⁶¹ He gave up his might into captivity, his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.

⁶² God abandoned his people to the sword; he was enraged against his heritage.

⁶³ Fire consumed their young men; their young women heard no wedding songs.

⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword; their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior from the effects of wine.

⁶⁶ He put his enemies to flight; everlasting shame he dealt them.

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph, chose not the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸ God chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he favored.

⁶⁹ He built his shrine like the heavens, like the earth which he founded forever.

⁷⁰ He chose David his servant, took him from the sheepfold.

⁷¹ From tending sheep God brought him, to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his heritage.

⁷² He shepherded them with a pure heart; with skilled hands he guided them.