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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Psalms 78: GW
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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
Psalm 78
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.
1Listen, O my people, to my teaching;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth [and be willing to learn].
2I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]— [Matt 13:34, 35]
3Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children,
But [we will] tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
And [tell of] His great might and power and the wonderful works that He has done.
5¶For He established a testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach to their children [the great facts of God’s transactions with Israel],
6That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born
May arise and recount them to their children,
7That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,
8And not be like their fathers—
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9¶The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and carrying bows,
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk according to His law;
11And they forgot His [incredible] works
And His miraculous wonders that He had shown them.
12He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].
13He divided the [Red] Sea and allowed them to pass through it,
And He made the waters stand up like [water behind] a dam. [Ex 14:22]
14In the daytime He led them with a cloud
And all the night with a light of fire. [Ex 13:21; 14:24]
15He split rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant [water to] drink like the ocean depths.
16He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]
And caused waters to run down like rivers. [Ex 17:6; Num 20:11]
17¶Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18And in their hearts they put God to the test
By asking for food according to their [selfish] appetite.
19Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare [food for] a table in the wilderness?
20“Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out
And the streams overflowed;
Can He give bread also?
Or will He provide meat for His people?”
21¶Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
And His anger mounted up against Israel,
22Because they did not believe in God [they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him],
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).
23Yet He commanded the clouds from above
And opened the doors of heaven;
24And He rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them the grain of heaven. [Ex 16:14; John 6:31]
25Man ate the bread of angels;
God sent them provision in abundance.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
And by His [unlimited] power He guided the south wind.
27He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas. [Num 11:31]
28And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
Around their tents.
29So they ate and were well filled,
He gave them what they craved.
30Before they had satisfied their desire,
And while their food was in their mouths, [Num 11:33]
31The wrath of God rose against them
And killed some of the strongest of them,
And subdued the choice young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this they still sinned,
For they did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.
33Therefore He consumed their days like a breath [in emptiness and futility]
And their years in sudden terror.
34¶When He killed [some of] them, then those remaining sought Him,
And they returned [to Him] and searched diligently for God [for a time].
35And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths
And lied to Him with their tongues.
37For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant. [Acts 8:21]
38 # 78:38 The ancient Sopherim, the Jewish scholars whose responsibility it was to do counts of all the letters, words, and verses of the OT, said that this verse marks the halfway point in Psalms. But He, the source of compassion and lovingkindness, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;
Many times He restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.
39For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh,
A wind that goes and does not return.
40¶How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the desert!
41Again and again they tempted God,
And distressed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember [the miracles worked by] His [powerful] hand,
Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43How He worked His miracles in Egypt
And His wonders in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided],
44And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,
And frogs which destroyed them.
46He also gave their crops to the grasshopper,
And the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with [great] hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones,
And their flocks and herds to thunderbolts. [Ex 9:18-21]
49He sent upon them His burning anger, [Ex 12:23]
His fury and indignation and distress,
A band of angels of destruction [among them].
50He leveled a path for His anger [to give it free run];
He did not spare their souls from death,
But turned over their lives to the plague.
51He killed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first and best of their strength in the tents [of the land of the sons] of Ham.
52But God led His own people forward like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness like [a good shepherd with] a flock.
53He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies. [Ex 14:27, 28]
54¶So He brought them to His holy land,
To this mountain [Zion] which His right hand had acquired.
55He also drove out the nations before the sons of Israel
And allotted their land as an inheritance, measured out and partitioned;
And He had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents [the tents of those who had been dispossessed].
56Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).
57They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].
58For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].
59When God heard this, He was filled with [righteous] wrath;
And utterly rejected Israel, [greatly hating her ways],
60So that He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
The tent in which He had dwelled among men,
61And gave up His strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity,
And His glory into the hand of the enemy (the Philistines). [1 Sam 4:21]
62He also handed His people over to the sword,
And was infuriated with His inheritance (Israel). [1 Sam 4:10]
63The fire [of war] devoured His young men,
And His [bereaved] virgins had no wedding songs.
64His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep. [1 Sam 4:11, 19, 20]
65¶Then the Lord awakened as from sleep,
Like a [mighty] warrior who awakens from the sleep of wine [fully conscious of his power].
66He drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.
67Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim [in which the tabernacle stood].
68But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader],
Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].
69And He built His sanctuary [exalted] like the heights [of the heavens],
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70He also chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds; [1 Sam 16:11, 12]
71 # 78:71 The first impression one might receive from this passage is that God elevated David from the lowliest position in Israel to the highest. But the ancient rabbis said that God tested David’s skills and wisdom as a shepherd. For example, it is said that David held back the bigger sheep from the pasture and brought out the smaller ones first to graze on the tender grass. The rabbis represented God as saying, “He who knows how to shepherd the sheep, each one in proportion to its strength, shall come and shepherd My people.” From #78:71 Lit following.tending the ewes with nursing young He brought him
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance. [2 Sam 7:7, 8]
72So David shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart;
And guided them with his skillful hands.
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