Psalms 78

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 A maskil of Asaph. Attend, my people, to my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.	1 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the Gentiles have entered into your inheritance; they have polluted your holy temple. They have set Jerusalem as a place to tend fruit trees.
2 I will open my mouth in story, drawing lessons from of old.	2 They have placed the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints for the beasts of the earth.
3 We have heard them, we know them; our ancestors have recited them to us.	3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one who would bury them.
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.	4 We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, an object of ridicule and mockery to those who are around us.
5 God set up a decree in Jacob, established a law in Israel: What he commanded our ancestors, they were to teach their children;	5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry until the end? Will your zeal be kindled like a fire?
6 That the next generation might come to know, children yet to be born. In turn they were to recite them to their children,	6 Pour out your wrath among the Gentiles, who have not known you, and upon the kingdoms that have not invoked your name.
7 that they too might put their trust in God, And not forget the works of God, keeping his commandments.	7 For they have devoured Jacob, and they have desolated his place.
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,	8 Do not remember our iniquities of the past. May your mercies quickly intercept us, for we have become exceedingly poor.
9 Like the ranks of Ephraimite archers, who retreated on the day of battle.	9 Help us, O God, our Savior. And free us, Lord, for the glory of your name. And forgive us our sins for the sake of your name.
10 They did not keep God's covenant; they refused to walk by his law.	10 Let them not say among the Gentiles, “Where is their God?” And may your name become known among the nations before our eyes. For the retribution of your servants’ blood, which has been poured out:
11 They forgot his works, the wondrous deeds he had shown them.	11 may the groans of the shackled enter before you. According to the greatness of your arm, take possession of the sons of those who have been killed.
12 In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders, in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.	12 And repay our neighbors sevenfold within their sinews. It is the reproach of the same ones who brought reproach against you, O Lord.
13 He split the sea and led them across, piling up the waters rigid as walls.	13 But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture: we will give thanks to you in all ages. From generation to generation, we will announce your praise.
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.