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
A Contemplative Maskil of Asaph.
1Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2#Ps 63:1; 84:2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter insightful sayings of old,
3#Ps 79:10; 80:5 which we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4#Isa 30:29; Ps 62:8 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell the coming generation
the praises of the Lord,
and His strength, and the wonderful works that He has done.
5#Ps 42:11; 43:5 For He established a rule in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
that they should make them known to their children,
6#2Sa 17:22; Dt 3:8–9 that the generation to come might know them,
even the children who are not yet born,
who will arise and declare them to their children:
7#Ps 88:7; Jnh 2:3 that they might set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments,
8#Job 35:10; Ps 63:6 and they might not be as their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not set their heart steadfast,
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9#Ps 38:6; 18:2 The people of Ephraim, being armed with bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
10#Ps 42:3; Joel 2:17 They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to walk in His law;
11#Ps 42:5; 43:5 and they forgot His works
and the wonders that He had shown them.
12In the sight of their ancestors He did marvelous wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
and He made the waters to stand as a heap.
14In the daytime He led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a light of fire.
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them abundance to drink as out of the great depths.
16He brought streams out of the rock
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17They sinned yet more against Him
by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.
18They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food that they craved.
19They spoke against God by saying,
“Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out
and the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread
or 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
nor trust in His deliverance.
23Yet He had commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24and He rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25Man ate the food of mighty angels;
He sent them bread in abundance.
26He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by His power He brought out a south wind.
27He rained meat on them as dust,
and winged birds as the sand of the sea;
28and He let them fall in the midst of their camp
all around their habitations.
29So they ate and were satisfied,
for He gave them their own desire;
30while they were not yet filled up,
and while the meat was still in their mouths,
31the wrath of God came upon them,
and He killed the strongest of them
and struck down the young men of Israel.
32For all this they sinned still,
and did not believe despite His wondrous works.
33Therefore He made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in trouble.
34When He killed them, then they sought Him;
they turned back and longed for God.
35They remembered that God was their rock,
and the Most High God their redeemer.
36Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
and they lied to Him with their tongues;
37for their heart was not devoted to Him,
neither were they committed to His covenant.
38But He being full of compassion
forgave their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He constantly restrained His anger,
and did not stir up all His wrath;
39for He remembered that they were but flesh,
like a wind that passes away and does not return.
40How often they provoked Him in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert!
41Yes, they tested God over and over,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember His power,
nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy,
43how He had performed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the fields of Zoan:
44and He turned their rivers into blood,
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46He gave also their crops to the grasshopper
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with frost.
48He gave up their cattle also to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger,
wrath, indignation, and trouble,
by sending angels bringing disaster.
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.
52Then He led out His own people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54He brought them to the border of His holy land,
to the mountain that His right hand had acquired.
55He cast out the nations also before them,
and divided for them their tribal allotments,
and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
and did not keep His commands,
57but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
they turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58For they provoked Him to anger with their high places
and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.
59When God heard this, He was full of wrath
and greatly rejected Israel
60so that He left the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He lived among people,
61and delivered His strength to captivity
and His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62He gave His people over also to the sword;
He was enraged with His inheritance.
63The fire consumed their young men,
and their maidens were not given to marriage in song.
64Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep,
and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66He routed His enemies back,
and He made them a perpetual reproach.
67Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
and He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loves.
69He built His sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth that He has established perpetually.
70He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71from following the nursing ewes He brought him
to shepherd Jacob His people,
and Israel His inheritance.
72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart
and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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