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
God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History
A maskil of Asaph.#The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
1Listen, O my people, to my teaching.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2I will offer#Hebrew “open” a parable with my mouth.
I will pour out riddles from long ago,
3that we have heard and known,
and our ancestors#Or “fathers” have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children,#Or “descendants”
telling the next generation the praises of Yahweh,
and his power and his wonders that he has done.
5For he established a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a law#Hebrew torah in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors#Or “fathers”
to teach to their children,
6so that the next generation might know—
children yet to be born—
that they might rise up and tell their children,
7that they might set their confidence in God,
and not forget the deeds of God,
but keep his commandments,
8and not be like their ancestors,#Or “fathers”
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not make ready its heart,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The sons of Ephraim, armed with archers,#Literally “armed with shooters of the bow”
turned back on the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to go in his law.#Hebrew torah
11They also forgot his deeds,
and his wonders that he had shown them.
12In front of their ancestors#Or “fathers” he did a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13He split the sea and caused them to go over,
and he caused waters to stand like a heap.
14And he led them with the cloud by day,
and all night with a fiery light.
15He caused rocks to split in the wilderness
and provided drink abundantly as from the depths.
16And he brought streams out of the rock
and caused water to flow down like rivers.
17But they sinned still further against him
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18And they tested God in their heart
by asking food for their craving.#Literally “for their soul”
19And they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able
to prepare a table in the wilderness?
20Yes, he struck the rock and water flowed
and streams gushed out,
but can he also give food
or provide meat for his people?”
21Therefore Yahweh heard
and he was very angry,
and a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and his anger also rose up against Israel,
22because they did not believe God,
and they did not trust his salvation.
23Nevertheless, he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24and rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25Humankind ate the bread of angels.#Literally “mighty ones”
He sent them food enough to be satisfied.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
and drove along the south wind by his strength.
27Then he rained meat on them like dust,
even winged birds#Hebrew “bird” like the sand of the seas.
28He caused them to fall in the midst of his camp,
all around his dwellings.
29So they ate and were well filled,
and he brought about what they craved.
30They had not yet turned aside from their craving,
while their food was still in their mouth,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed some of the stoutest of them,
even the young men of Israel he caused to bow down in death.
32In spite of all this they sinned further
and did not believe his wonders.
33And he consumed their days with futility #Or “he ended their days like a breath”
their years with terror.#Or “and their years suddenly”
34When he killed some of them, then they sought him,
and repented and earnestly sought God.
35And they remembered that God was their rock,
and God Most High their redeemer.
36But they enticed him with their mouth
and lied to him with their tongue.
37For their heart was not steadfast with him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
38But he was compassionate; he pardoned#Or “covered,” or “atoned for” their guilt
and did not destroy them.
And many times he turned back his anger
and did not stir up all his wrath,
39for he remembered that they were flesh,
a passing wind that does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and vexed him in the wasteland!
41So they again tested God
and distressed#Or perhaps, “pressed to the limit” the Holy One of Israel.
42And they did not remember his power#Literally “hand”
when#Literally “the day that” he redeemed them from the enemy,
43how he performed#Hebrew “set” his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the region of Zoan,
44when he turned their rivers#Normally the word for the Nile, with the plural here suggesting perhaps it and its canals to blood
so they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent among them flies that devoured them
and frogs that destroyed them.
46And he gave their crop to the locusts
and their labor to the locust.#Two different words translated “locusts”
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with sleet.#The word for “sleet” is only used here, and the translation is a guess based on context
48He also handed their cattle over to the hail
and their livestock to the lightning bolts.
49He sent against them his fierce anger,
rage and indignation and trouble,
a band of destroying#Literally “evil” angels.
50He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them#Hebrew “their soul” from death
but handed their life over to the plague.
51And he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them like a herd in the wilderness.
53And he led them safely and they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.
54So he brought them to his holy territory,#Hebrew “border”
this mountain his right hand acquired.#Or “had created”
55And he drove out nations before them
and allocated them for an inheritance by boundary line,
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56But they tested and rebelled against God Most High
and did not keep his statutes.
57And they turned and were treacherous like their ancestors.#Or “fathers”
They twisted like a crooked#Or “deceitful” bow.
58For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
and made him jealous with their images.
59God heard and he was very angry
and rejected Israel utterly.
60So he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,
the tent he had placed among humankind.
61And he gave his strength into captivity
and his splendor into the hand of the enemy.
62He also handed his people over to the sword,
and he was very angry with his inheritance.
63Fire devoured his young men,
and his young women#Or “virgins” were not praised.
64His priests fell by the sword,
and his widows did not weep.
65Then the Lord awoke like one who had been asleep,
awoke like a warrior who had been drunk with wine.#Or “like a warrior shouting because of wine”
66And he beat back his enemies;
he gave them over to perpetual scorn.
67And he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and did not chose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion#Literally “the mountain of Zion” that he loved.
69And he built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70And he chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71He brought him from following nursing ewes
to shepherd Jacob, his people,
and Israel, his inheritance.
72And he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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