Psalms 78
78
Israel from Moses to David
1A contemplative song of Asaph. Listen, my people, to my teaching. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth with a parable. I will utter perplexing sayings from of old,
3which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children, telling to the next generation the praises of Adonai and His strength and the wonders He has done.
5For He established a testimony in Jacob and ordained Torah in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach their children,
6so that the next generation might know, even the children yet to be born: they will arise and tell their children.
7Then they will put their trust in God, not forgetting the works of God, but keeping His mitzvot.
8So they will not be like their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, whose spirit was not loyal to God.
9The sons of Ephraim were archers armed with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to walk in His Torah.
11They forgot His deeds and His wonders that He had shown them.
12He did miracles in front of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Zoan.
13He split the sea and led them through, and He made the water stand like a wall.
14By day He led them with a cloud and all night with a light of fire.
15He split apart rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
16So He brought streams out of a rock, and made waters flow down like rivers.
17Yet they added more sinning against Him, rebelling against Elyon in the desert.
18They put God to the test in their heart by demanding food for their craving.
19Then they spoke against God, saying, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20See, He struck the rock, waters gushed out, streams overflowed. But can He give bread? Will He provide meat for His people?”
21When Adonai heard, He was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, and fury also rose against Israel.
22For they did not believe in God or trust in His salvation.
23Yet He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
24and rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them grain of heaven.
25Man did eat the bread of angels. He sent them abundant provision.
26He loosed the east wind in the skies, and by His power He drove the south wind.
27He rained meat upon them like dust, and winged fowl like sand of the seas.
28And He let it fall amidst their camp, all around their tents.
29So they ate and were very full— for He gave them their desire.
30No longer a stranger from their desire, while their food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down young men of Israel.
32Despite all this they sinned still more, and did not trust in His wonders.
33So He ended their days in futility and their years in terror.
34But when He slew them, then they sought Him, and turned back, and desired God eagerly.
35Then they remembered that God was their Rock and El Elyon their Redeemer.
36But they flattered Him with their mouth and kept lying to Him with their tongue.
37For their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful to His covenant.
38But He is compassionate, forgives iniquity and does not destroy. Yes, many times He restrains His anger, and does not stir up all His wrath.
39For He remembered that they are but flesh, a passing breath that never returns.
40How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!
41Again and again they tested God, and pained the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember His hand— the day He redeemed them from the foe,
43when He displayed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the plain of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers into blood, so they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent on them flies to devour them, and frogs to devastate them,
46and gave their crops to the grasshopper, and their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost,
48and gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to fiery bolts.
49He sent on them the fury of His anger —wrath and indignation and trouble— a band of evil angels.
50He cleared a path for His anger. He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague.
51He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52But He brought His people out like sheep, and led them in the wilderness like a flock.
53He led them to safety, so they did not fear, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54Then He brought them to His holy territory, to the mountain His right hand had gotten.
55He drove out nations before them, and allotted them an inheritance. He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56Yet they tested and rebelled against El Elyon, and did not keep His decrees.
57Like their fathers they turned and were treacherous. They turned aside like a faulty bow.
58For they provoked Him with their high places, so they aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
59God heard and was furious, and He greatly detested Israel.
60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He pitched among men.
61He gave up His strength into captivity, and His glory into the adversary’s hand.
62He gave His people over to the sword, when He was angry at His inheritance.
63Fire consumed their young men, and their virgins had no wedding songs.
64Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.
65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior shaking off wine.
66He beat back His foes, putting them to lasting scorn.
67Then He detested Joseph’s tent and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
68Instead He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.
69He built His Sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that He established forever.
70He also chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds,
71from following nursing ewes. He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.
72So He shepherded them with the integrity of His heart, and led them with His skillful hands.
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Psalms 78: TLV
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Psalms 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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