Psalms 78
78
A contemplation by Asaph.
1Hear my teaching, my people.
Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 which we have heard and known,
and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
5 For he established a covenant in Jacob,
and appointed a teaching in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers,
that they should make them known to their children;
6 that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born;
who should arise and tell their children,
7 that they might set their hope in God,
and not forget God’s deeds,
but keep his commandments,
8 and 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.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep God’s covenant,
and refused to walk by his Torah.
11 They forgot his doings,
his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.
He made the waters stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
and all night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock,
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still went on to sin against him,
to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tempted God in their heart
by asking food according to their desire.
19Yes, they spoke against God.
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,
and streams overflowed.
Can he give bread also?
Will he provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore the LORD heard, and was angry.
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
anger also went up against Israel,
22 because they didn’t believe in God,
and didn’t trust in his salvation [yeshuat].
23Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna on them to eat,
and gave them food from the sky.
25Man ate the bread of angels.
He sent them food to the full.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky.
By his power he guided the south wind.
27 He also rained meat on them as the dust,
winged birds as the sand of the seas.
28 He let them fall in the middle of their camp,
around their habitations.
29 So they ate, and were well filled.
He gave them their own desire.
30 They didn’t turn from their cravings.
Their food was yet in their mouths,
31 when the anger of God went up against them,
killed some of their strongest,
and struck down the young men of Israel.
32 For all this they still sinned,
and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
33Therefore he consumed their days in vanity,
and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him.
They returned and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their redeemer.
36But they flattered him with their mouth,
and lied to him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not right with him,
neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 But 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.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
and grieved him in the desert!
41 They turned again and tempted God,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They didn’t remember his hand,
nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43how he set his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 he turned their rivers into blood,
and their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He also gave their increase to the caterpillar,
and their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail,
their sycamore fig trees with frost.
48He also gave over their livestock to the hail,
and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He threw on them the fierceness of his anger,
wrath, indignation, and trouble,
and a band of angels of evil.
50 He made a path for his anger.
He didn’t spare their soul from death,
but gave their life over to the pestilence,
51 and struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led out his own people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
55 He 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.
56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,
and didn’t keep his testimonies,
57but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers.
They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59 When God heard this, he was angry,
and greatly abhorred Israel,
60so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh,
the tent which he placed among men,
61 and delivered his strength into captivity,
his glory into the adversary’s hand.
62 He also gave his people over to the sword,
and was angry with his inheritance.
63Fire devoured their young men.
Their virgins had no wedding song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows couldn’t weep.
65Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,
like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66 He struck his adversaries backward.
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth which he has established forever.
70 He also chose David his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from following the ewes that have their young,
he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and Israel, his inheritance.
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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Psalms 78
78
A psalm#78:TITLE Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term. of Asaph.
1O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
5For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
8Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
9The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
10They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his instructions.
11They forgot what he had done—
the great wonders he had shown them,
12the miracles he did for their ancestors
on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13For he divided the sea and led them through,
making the water stand up like walls!
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#78:35 Hebrew El-Elyon. 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.
41Again and again they tested God’s patience
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his power
and how he rescued them from their enemies.
43They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
44For he turned their rivers into blood,
so no one could drink from the streams.
45He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them
and hordes of frogs to ruin them.
46He gave their crops to caterpillars;
their harvest was consumed by locusts.
47He destroyed their grapevines with hail
and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48He abandoned their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49He loosed on them his fierce anger—
all his fury, rage, and hostility.
He dispatched against them
a band of destroying angels.
50He turned his anger against them;
he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives
but ravaged them with the plague.
51He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,
the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.#78:51 Hebrew in the tents of Ham.
52But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,
guiding them safely through the wilderness.
53He kept them safe so they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this land of hills he had won for them.
55He drove out the nations before them;
he gave them their inheritance by lot.
He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.
56But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High.
They did not obey his laws.
57They turned back and were as faithless as their parents.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58They angered God by building shrines to other gods;
they made him jealous with their idols.
59When God heard them, he was very angry,
and he completely rejected Israel.
60Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.
61He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured;
he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
62He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword,
because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.
63Their young men were killed by fire;
their young women died before singing their wedding songs.
64Their priests were slaughtered,
and their widows could not mourn their deaths.
65Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep,
like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.
66He routed his enemies
and sent them to eternal shame.
67But he rejected Joseph’s descendants;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens,
as solid and enduring as the earth.
70He chose his servant David,
calling him from the sheep pens.
71He took David from tending the ewes and lambs
and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants—
God’s own people, Israel.
72He cared for them with a true heart
and led them with skillful hands.
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