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
One of Asaph’s maskils.
1My people, listen to my teachings.
Listen to what I say.
2I will tell you a story.
I will tell you about things from the past that are hard to understand.
3We have heard the story, and we know it well.
Our fathers told it to us.
4And we will not forget it.
Our people will be telling this story to the last generation.
We will all praise the Lord
and tell about the amazing things he did.
5He made an agreement with Jacob.
He gave the law to Israel.
He gave the commands to our ancestors.
He told them to teach the law to their children.
6Then the next generation, even the children not yet born, would learn the law.
And they would be able to teach it to their own children.
7So they would all trust in God,
never forgetting what he had done
and always obeying his commands.
8They would not be like their ancestors,
who were stubborn and refused to obey.
Their hearts were not devoted to God,
and they were not faithful to him.
9The men from Ephraim had their weapons,
but they ran from the battle.
10They did not keep their agreement with God.
They refused to obey his teachings.
11They forgot the great things he had done
and the amazing things he had shown them.
12While their ancestors watched,
he showed his great power at Zoan in Egypt.
13He split the Red Sea and led the people across.
The water stood like a solid wall on both sides of them.
14Each day God led them with the tall cloud,
and each night he led them with the light from the column of fire.
15He split the rocks in the desert
and gave them an ocean of fresh water.
16He brought a stream of water out of the rock
and made it flow like a river!
17But they continued sinning against him.
They rebelled against God Most High in the desert.
18Then they decided to test God
by telling him to give them the food they wanted.
19They complained about him and said,
“Can God give us food in the desert?
20Yes, he struck the rock and a flood of water came out.
But can he give us bread and meat?”
21The Lord heard what they said
and became angry with Jacob’s people.
He was angry with Israel,
22because they did not trust in him.
They did not believe that God could save them.
23-24But then God opened the clouds above,
and manna rained down on them for food.
It was as if doors in the sky opened,
and grain poured down from a storehouse in the sky.
25These people ate the food of angels.
God sent plenty of food to satisfy them.
26He sent a strong wind from the east,
and by his power he made the south wind blow.
27He made quail fall like rain until they covered the ground.
There were so many birds that they were like sand on the seashore.
28The birds fell in the middle of the camp,
all around their tents.
29The people ate until they were full.
God had given them what they wanted.
30But before they were fully satisfied,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31God became angry and killed even the strongest of them.
He brought down Israel’s best young men.
32But the people continued to sin!
They did not trust in the amazing things God could do.
33So he ended their worthless lives;
he brought their years to a close with disaster.
34When he killed some of them, the others would turn back to him.
They would come running back to God.
35They would remember that God was their Rock.
They would remember that God Most High had saved them.
36But they tried to fool him with their words;
they told him lies.
37Their hearts were not really with him.
They were not faithful to the agreement he gave them.
38But God was merciful.
He forgave their sins and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger.
He never let it get out of control.
39He remembered that they were only people,
like a wind that blows and then is gone.
40Oh, they caused him so much trouble in the desert!
They made him so sad.
41Again and again they tested his patience.
They really hurt the Holy One of Israel.
42They forgot about his power.
They forgot the many times he saved them from the enemy.
43They forgot the miracles in Egypt,
the miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44God turned the rivers into blood,
and the Egyptians could not drink the water.
45He sent swarms of flies that bit them.
He sent the frogs that ruined their lives.
46He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their other plants to locusts.
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their trees with sleet.
48He killed their animals with hail
and their cattle with lightning.
49He showed the Egyptians his anger.
He sent his destroying angels against them.
50He found a way to show his anger.
He did not spare their lives.
He let them die with a deadly disease.
51He killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
He killed every firstborn in Ham’s#78:51 Ham The Egyptians were Ham’s descendants. See Gen. 10:6-10. family.
52Then he led Israel like a shepherd.
He led his people like sheep into the desert.
53He guided them safely.
They had nothing to fear.
He drowned their enemies in the sea.
54He led his people to his holy land,
to the mountain he took with his own power.
55He forced the other nations out before them
and gave each family its share of the land.
He gave each tribe of Israel a place to live.
56But they tested God Most High and made him very sad.
They didn’t obey his commands.
57They turned against him and were unfaithful just like their ancestors.
They changed directions like a boomerang.
58They built high places and made God angry.
They built statues of false gods and made him jealous.
59God heard what they were doing and became very angry.
So he rejected Israel completely!
60He abandoned his place at Shiloh,#78:60 place at Shiloh See 1 Sam. 4:4-11; Jer. 7:17.
the Holy Tent where he lived among the people.
61He let foreigners capture the Box of the Agreement,
the symbol of his power and glory.
62He showed his anger against his people
and let them be killed in war.
63Their young men were burned to death,
and there were no wedding songs for their young women.
64Their priests were killed,
but the widows had no time to mourn for them.
65Finally, our Lord got up
like a man waking from his sleep,
like a soldier after drinking too much wine.
66He forced his enemies to turn back defeated.
He brought them shame that will last forever.
67Then he rejected Joseph’s family.
He did not accept Ephraim’s family.
68No, he chose the tribe of Judah,
and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves.
69He built his holy Temple high on that mountain.
Like the earth, God built his Temple to last forever.
70He chose David to be his special servant.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71He took him away from the job of caring for sheep
and gave him the job of caring for the descendants of Jacob—Israel, his chosen people.
72And David led them with a pure heart
and guided them very wisely.
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