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.
Currently Selected:
Psalms 78: GW
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Psalms 78
78
A Contemplative Maskil of Asaph.
1Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth. # Isa 51:4; 55:3
2I will open my mouth in a parable; # Ps 49:4; Pr 1:6
I will speak mysteries of old,
3which we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us. # Ps 44:1
4We will not hide them from their children,
but tell the generation # Dt 11:19; Joel 1:3 to come
the praises of the Lord,
and His strength and the wonderful works that He has done.
5For He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel, # Ps 81:5; 147:19
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6that the generation to come might know them,
the children yet to be born, # Ps 102:18
that they may arise and declare them to their children,
7so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments; # Dt 4:9; 5:29
8and that they may not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation, # Ex 32:9; Dt 31:27
a generation that did not set its heart aright, # Ps 78:37
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The Ephraimites, being armed with bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to walk in His law;
11they forgot His works # Ps 106:13
and the wonders that He had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers He performed marvelous wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. # Nu 13:22; Isa 19:11
13He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, # Ex 14:21
and He made the waters stand up like a heap. # Ex 15:8
14In the daytime He led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a light of fire. # Ex 14:24; Ps 105:39
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them plenty to drink like the depths. # Ex 17:6; Nu 20:11
16He brought streams also out of the rock
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17But they sinned still more against Him # Isa 63:10
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their heart # 1Co 10:9
by asking for the food they craved. # Nu 11:4
19Then they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? # Nu 21:5
20Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out
and the streams overflowed. # Nu 20:11
Can He give bread also?
Will He provide meat for His people?”
21Therefore the Lord heard this and was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and anger also came up against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God
and did not trust in His salvation. # Heb 3:18–19
23Yet He had commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven, # Ge 7:11; Mal 3:10
24and He rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven. # Ex 16:4; Ps 105:40
25Men ate the bread of angels; # Ps 103:20
He sent them food in abundance.
26He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by His power He directed the south wind. # Nu 11:31
27He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28then He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29So they ate and were well filled,
for He gave them their own desire.
30They were not separated from their desire;
but while their food was still in their mouths,
31the wrath of God came upon them, # Isa 10:16
and He killed the strongest of them
and struck down the young men of Israel.
32For all this they still sinned,
and did not believe in His wondrous works. # Nu 14; 16:1–17
33Therefore their days did He consume like a breath, # Nu 14:29, 35
and their years in terror.
34When He killed them, then they sought Him;
they turned back and sought earnestly for God. # Nu 21:7; Hos 5:15
35They remembered that God was their rock, # Dt 32:4
and the Most High God their Redeemer. # Ex 15:13
36Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths, # Isa 29:13; Eze 33:31
and they lied to Him with their tongues;
37for their heart was not steadfast toward Him, # Ps 78:8; Ac 8:21
nor were they faithful in His covenant.
38But He, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity # Nu 14:18–20
and did not destroy them.
He often restrained His anger,
and did not stir up all His wrath; # Isa 48:9
39for He remembered that they were but flesh, # Ge 6:3
a wind that passes away and does not return. # Job 7:7
40How often they provoked Him in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert! # Ps 95:8–10; Eph 4:30
41Again and again they tested God, # Nu 14:22
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember His power,
nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43when He performed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the fields of Zoan,
44and turned their rivers into blood, # Ps 105:29
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, # Ex 8:21–24
and frogs, which destroyed them. # Ps 105:30–31
46He gave their crops to the grasshopper
and the fruit of their labor to the locust. # Ex 10:12–15
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with frost.
48He gave up their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to fiery lightning.
49He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
by sending angels of destruction.
50He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague,
51and struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham. # Ps 105:23; 106:22
52But He led forth His own people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; # Ps 77:20
53He led them on safely, so that they were not afraid, # Ex 14:19–20
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. # Ex 14:27–28
54He brought them to His holy border,
to the mountain which His right hand had acquired. # Ex 15:17; Ps 44:3
55He cast out the nations before them, # Ps 44:2
and divided for them their tribal allotments,
and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. # Jos 13:7
56Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
and did not keep His testimonies, # Jdg 2:11–12
57but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; # Eze 20:27–28
they turned aside like a deceitful bow. # Hos 7:16
58For they provoked Him to anger with their high places
and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. # Lev 26:30; Dt 32:21
59When God heard this, He was filled with wrath
and greatly abhorred Israel, # Ps 106:40
60so that He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He dwelt among men, # Jos 18:1
61and delivered His strength to captivity # Ps 132:8
and His glory to the enemy’s hand.
62He gave His people over to the sword,
and was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63The fire consumed their young men,
and their young women were not given in marriage. # Jer 7:34; 16:9
64Their priests fell by the sword, # 1Sa 4:17
and their widows made no lamentation. # Job 27:15
65Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, # Ps 44:23
like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66He routed His enemies back; # 1Sa 5:6
He made them a perpetual reproach.
67Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loves. # Ps 87:2
69He built His sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth that He has established forever.
70He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds; # 1Sa 16:11–12
71from following the nursing ewes He brought him
to shepherd Jacob His people, # Ge 33:13; 2Sa 5:2
and Israel His inheritance.
72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart # 1Ki 9:4
and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.