Tehillim (Psa) 78
78
1A maskil of Asaf:
Listen, my people, to my teaching;
turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2I will speak to you in parables
and explain mysteries from days of old.
3The things which we have heard and known,
and which our fathers told us
4we will not hide from their descendants;
we will tell the generation to come
the praises of Adonai and his strength,
the wonders that he has performed.
5He raised up a testimony in Ya‘akov
and established a Torah in Isra’el.
He commanded our ancestors
to make this known to their children,
6so that the next generation would know it,
the children not yet born,
who would themselves arise
and tell their own children,
7who could then put their confidence in God,
not forgetting God’s deeds,
but obeying his mitzvot.
8Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation with unprepared hearts,
with spirits unfaithful to God.
9The people of Efrayim, though armed with bows and arrows,
turned their backs on the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to live by his Torah.
11They forgot what he had done,
his wonders which he had shown them.
12He had done wonderful things
in the presence of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt,
in the region of Tzo‘an.
13He split the sea and made them pass through,
he made the waters stand up like a wall.
14He also led them by day with a cloud
and all night long with light from a fire.
15He broke apart the rocks in the desert
and let them drink as if from boundless depths;
16yes, he brought streams out of the rock,
making the water flow down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High;
18in their hearts they tested God
by demanding food that would satisfy their cravings.
19Yes, they spoke against God by asking,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?
20True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out,
until the vadis overflowed;
but what about bread? Can he give that?
Can he provide meat for his people?”
21Therefore, when Adonai heard, he was angry;
fire blazed up against Ya‘akov;
his anger mounted against Isra’el;
22because they had no faith in God,
no trust in his power to save.
23So he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24He rained down man on them as food;
he gave them grain from heaven —
25mortals ate the bread of angels;
he provided for them to the full.
26He stirred up the east wind in heaven,
brought on the south wind by his power,
27and rained down meat on them like dust,
birds flying thick as the sand on the seashore.
28He let them fall in the middle of their camp,
all around their tents.
29So they ate till they were satisfied;
he gave them what they craved.
30They were still fulfilling their craving,
the food was still in their mouths,
31when the anger of God rose up against them
and slaughtered their strongest men,
laying low the young men of Isra’el.
32Still, they kept on sinning
and put no faith in his wonders.
33Therefore, he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34When he brought death among them, they would seek him;
they would repent and seek God eagerly,
35remembering that God was their Rock,
El ‘Elyon their Redeemer.
36But they tried to deceive him with their words,
they lied to him with their tongues;
37for their hearts were not right with him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
38Yet he, because he is full of compassion,
forgave their sin and did not destroy;
many times he turned away his anger
and didn’t rouse all his wrath.
39So he remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that blows past and does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the desert
and grieved him in the wastelands!
41Repeatedly they challenged God
and pained the Holy One of Isra’el.
42They didn’t remember how he used his hand
on the day he redeemed them from their enemy,
43how he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Tzo‘an.
44He turned their rivers into blood,
so they couldn’t drink from their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46He gave their harvest to shearer-worms,
the fruit of their labor to locusts.
47He destroyed their vineyards with hail
and their sycamore-figs with frost.
48Their cattle too he gave over to the hail
and their flocks to lightning bolts.
49He sent over them his fierce anger,
fury, indignation and trouble,
with a company of destroying angels
50to clear a path for his wrath.
He did not spare them from death,
but gave them over to the plague,
51striking all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52But his own people he led out like sheep,
guiding them like a flock in the desert.
53He led them safely, and they weren’t afraid,
even when the sea overwhelmed their foes.
54He brought them to his holy land,
to the hill-country won by his right hand.
55He expelled nations before them,
apportioned them property to inherit
and made Isra’el’s tribes live in their tents.
56Yet they tested El ‘Elyon
and rebelled against him,
refusing to obey his instructions.
57They turned away and were faithless, like their fathers;
they were unreliable, like a bow without tension.
58They provoked him with their high places
and made him jealous with their idols.
59God heard, and he was angry;
he came to detest Isra’el completely.
60He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent he had made where he could live among people.
61He gave his strength into exile,
his pride to the power of the foe.
62He gave his people over to the sword
and grew angry with his own heritage.
63Fire consumed their young men,
their virgins had no wedding-song,
64their cohanim fell by the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65Then Adonai awoke, as if from sleep,
like a warrior shouting for joy from wine.
66He struck his foes, driving them back
and putting them to perpetual shame.
67Rejecting the tents of Yosef
and passing over the tribe of Efrayim,
68he chose the tribe of Y’hudah,
Mount Tziyon, which he loved.
69He built his sanctuary like the heights;
like the earth, he made it to last forever.
70He chose David to be his servant,
taking him from the sheep-yards;
71from tending nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Ya‘akov his people,
Isra’el his heritage.
72With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with skillful hands.
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Tehillim (Psa) 78: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BiblePsalms 78
78
Psalm 78
A maskil by Asaph.
1Open your ears to my teachings, my people.
Turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2I will open my mouth to illustrate points.
I will explain what has been hidden long ago,
3things that we have heard and known about,
things that our parents have told us.
4We will not hide them from our children.
We will tell the next generation
about the Lord’s power and great deeds
and the miraculous things he has done.
5He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.
He gave his teachings to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children
6so that the next generation would know them.
Children yet to be born ⌞would learn them⌟.
They will grow up and tell their children
7to trust God, to remember what he has done,
and to obey his commands.
8Then they will not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Their hearts were not loyal.
Their spirits were not faithful to God.
9The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows ⌞and arrows⌟,
turned ⌞and ran⌟ on the day of battle.
10They had not been faithful to God’s promise.#78:10 Or “covenant.”
They refused to follow his teachings.
11They forgot what he had done—
the miracles that he had shown them.
12In front of their ancestors he performed miracles
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and led them through it.
He made the waters stand up like a wall.
14He guided them by a cloud during the day
and by a fiery light throughout the night.
15He split rocks in the desert.
He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.
16He made streams come out of a rock.
He made the water flow like rivers.
17They continued to sin against him,
to rebel in the desert against the Most High.
18They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God by saying,
“Can God prepare a banquet in the desert?
20True, he did strike a rock,
and water did gush out,
and the streams did overflow.
But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”
21When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
His fire burned against Jacob
and his anger flared up at Israel
22because they did not believe God
or trust him to save them.
23In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24He rained manna down on them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
25Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,
and God sent them plenty of food.
26He made the east wind blow in the heavens
and guided the south wind with his might.
27He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like the sand on the seashore.
28He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,
all around his dwelling place.
29They ate more than enough.
He gave them what they wanted,
30but they still wanted more.
While the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God flared up against them.
He killed their strongest men and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.
32In spite of all this, they continued to sin,
and they no longer believed in his miracles.
33He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.
He brought their years to an end in terror.
34When he killed ⌞some of⌟ them, ⌞the rest⌟ searched for him.
They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for God.
35They remembered that God was their rock,
that the Most High was their defender.
36They flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues.
37Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his promise.
38But he is compassionate.
He forgave their sin.
He did not destroy them.
He restrained his anger many times.
He did not display all of his fury.
39He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,
a breeze that blows and does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they caused him grief in the desert!
41Again and again they tested God,
and they pushed the Holy One of Israel to the limit.
42They did not remember his power—
the day he freed them from their oppressor,
43when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers into blood
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent a swarm of flies that bit them
and frogs that ruined them.
46He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their produce to locusts.
47He killed their vines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
48He let the hail strike their cattle
and bolts of lightning strike their livestock.
49He sent his burning anger, rage, fury, and hostility against them.
He sent an army of destroying angels.
50He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them.
He let the plague take their lives.
51He slaughtered every firstborn in Egypt,
the ones born in the tents of Ham when their fathers were young.
52But he led his own people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock through the wilderness.
53He led them safely.
They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.
54He brought them into his holy land,
to this mountain that his power had won.
55He forced nations out of their way
and gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.
56They tested God Most High and rebelled against him.
They did not obey his written instructions.
57They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.
They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.
58They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.
They made him furious because they worshiped idols.
59When God heard, he became furious.
He completely rejected Israel.
60He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived among humans.
61He allowed his power to be taken captive
and handed his glory over to an oppressor.
62He let swords kill his people.
He was furious with those who belonged to him.
63Fire consumed his best young men,
so his virgins heard no wedding songs.
64His priests were cut down with swords.
The widows ⌞of his priests⌟ could not even weep ⌞for them⌟.
65Then the Lord woke up like one who had been sleeping,
like a warrior sobering up from ⌞too much⌟ wine.
66He struck his enemies from behind
and disgraced them forever.
67He rejected the tent of Joseph.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
69He built his holy place to be like the high heavens,
like the earth which he made to last for a long time.
70He chose his servant David.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71He brought him from tending the ewes that had lambs
so that David could be the shepherd of the people of Jacob,
of Israel, the people who belonged to the Lord.
72With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd.
With skill he guided them.
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