Psalms 78
78
Lessons from Israel’s Past
A Maskil of Asaph. # 1Ch 16:5,7
1My people, hear my instruction;
listen to what I say. # Pr 5:7; 7:24; Is 55:3
2I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past # Ps 49:4; Pr 1:6; Mt 13:35 —
3things we have heard and known
and that our fathers have passed down to us. # Ps 44:1
4We must not hide them from their children,
but must tell a future generation
the praises of the Lord,
His might, and the wonderful works
He has performed. # Dt 6:7; 11:19; Ps 145:4
5He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children # Ps 19:7; 81:5; 147:19
6so that a future generation —
children yet to be born — might know.
They were to rise and tell their children # Dt 11:19; Ps 22:31; 102:18
7so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep His commands. # Dt 6:12; Ps 103:2; Pr 3:1
8Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God. # Dt 31:27; 2Kg 17:14; 2Ch 30:7
9The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle. # Ps 44:10
10They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by His law. # 1Kg 11:11; 2Kg 17:15; Jr 32:23
11They forgot what He had done,
the wonderful works He had shown them. # Ps 106:13
12He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers
in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan. # Ex 7–12; Ps 78:43
13He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall. # Ex 14:21; 15:8; Ps 136:13
14He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night. # Ex 13:21; Nm 14:14; Ps 105:39
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths. # Ex 17:6; Nm 20:8-13; Is 48:21
16He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers. # Ps 105:41; 114:8
17But they continued to sin against Him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High. # Dt 9:22; Is 63:10; Heb 3:16
18They deliberately # Lit in their heart tested God,
demanding the food they craved. # Ex 17:2,7; Ps 106:14; 1Co 10:5-10
19They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed. # Nm 20:11
But can He also provide bread
or furnish meat for His people? ” # Ex 16:3; Nm 11:4; 21:5
21Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel # Nm 11:1
22because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation. # Dt 1:23; 9:23; Heb 3:18
23He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven. # Gn 7:11; Mal 3:10
24He rained manna for them to eat;
He gave them grain from heaven. # Ex 16:4,31; Jn 6:31
25People # Lit Man ate the bread of angels. # Lit mighty ones
He sent them an abundant supply of food. # Ex 16:3
26He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by His might. # Nm 11:31
27He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28He made them fall in His camp,
all around His tent. # LXX, Syr read in their camp, all around their tents # Or in its camp, all around its tents # Ex 16:13; Ps 105:40
29They ate and were completely satisfied,
for He gave them what they craved. # Nm 11:4,34
30Before they had satisfied their desire,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31God’s anger flared up against them,
and He killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s choice young men. # Nm 11:33-34; Jb 20:23
32Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works. # Nm 14:16-17
33He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster. # Nm 14:29,35
34When He killed some of them,
the rest began to seek Him;
they repented and searched for God. # Nm 21:7; Ps 63:1; Hs 5:15
35They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer. # Is 44:6,8
36But they deceived Him with their mouths,
they lied to Him with their tongues, # Is 29:13; 57:11; Ezk 33:31
37their hearts were insincere toward Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant. # Ps 51:10; 78:8; Ac 8:21
38Yet He was compassionate;
He atoned for # Or He wiped out, or He forgave their guilt
and did not destroy them.
He often turned His anger aside
and did not unleash # Or stir up all His wrath. # Nm 14:18-20; Dt 4:31; Is 12:1
39He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return. # Dt 31:27; Ps 107:11
40How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.
41They constantly tested God # Ps 95:8-9
and provoked the Holy One of Israel. # Dt 9:7-8,22; Ps 106:29; Zch 8:14
42They did not remember His power shown
on the day He redeemed them from the foe, # Jdg 8:34; Ps 44:3; 106:10
43when He performed His miraculous signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the region of Zoan. # Ex 4:21; 7:3; Ps 105:27
44He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams. # Ex 7:14-25; Ps 105:29
45He sent among them swarms of flies, # Ex 8:17; Ps 105:31
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them. # Ex 8:3-6; Ps 105:30
46He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust. # Ex 10:14-15; Ps 105:34
47He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts. # Ex 9:23-24; Ps 105:32
49He sent His burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity —
a band of deadly messengers. # Or angels # Ex 12:13,23; 2Sm 24:16
50He cleared a path for His anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague. # Ex 12:29-30
51He struck all the firstborn # Ex 13:15; Ps 105:36 in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham. # Ham’s descendants who settled in Egypt # Ps 105:23,27
52He led His people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. # Ex 15:22; Ps 77:20
53He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies. # Ex 14; 15:19; Jos 24:7; Ps 106:11
54He brought them to His holy land,
to the mountain His right hand acquired. # Ex 15:17; Ps 74:2
55He drove out nations before them. # Jos 11:16-23; Ps 44:2
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. # Jos 13:7; 23:4; Ps 135:12
56But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep His decrees. # Jdg 2:11-13
57They treacherously turned away like their fathers;
they became warped like a faulty bow. # Ezk 20:27-28; Hs 7:16
58They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their carved images. # Jdg 2:12; 1Kg 3:2; Ezk 20:28
59God heard and became furious;
He completely rejected Israel. # Dt 32:19; Ps 106:40; Am 6:8
60He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He resided among men. # Hb adam # Jr 7:12,14; 26:6
61He gave up His strength # = the ark of the covenant to captivity
and His splendor to the hand of a foe. # 1Sm 4:17
62He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged with His heritage. # Jdg 20:21; 1Sm 4:10
63Fire consumed His chosen young men,
and His young women had no wedding songs. # Lit virgins were not praised # Jr 7:34; 16:9; Lm 2:21
64His priests fell by the sword,
but the # Lit His widows could not lament. # War probably prevented customary funerals. # Jb 27:15; Ezk 24:23
65Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine. # Ps 73:20; 121:4; Is 42:13
66He beat back His foes;
He gave them lasting shame. # 1Sm 5:6; Ps 40:14
67He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved. # Ps 87:2
69He built His sanctuary like the heights, # Either the heights of heaven or the mountain heights
like the earth that He established forever. # 1Kg 6
70He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds; # 1Sm 16:11-13
71He brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over His people Jacob —
over Israel, His inheritance. # Ps 28:9; Is 40:11
72He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands. # 1Kg 9:4; Ps 101:2
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Psalm 78
78
Tell the Coming Generation
A Maskil#78:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term of #Ps. 50, title Asaph.
1 # [Isa. 51:4]; See Ps. 49:1; 50:7 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 # Cited Matt. 13:35; See Ps. 49:4 I will open my mouth #[Num. 21:27]in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3things that we have heard and known,
that our #See Ps. 44:1fathers have told us.
4We will not #Job 15:18 hide them from their children,
but #[Ex. 12:26, 27; 13:8, 14; Deut. 11:19; Josh. 4:6, 7; Joel 1:3] tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and #ver. 11, 32the wonders that he has done.
5He established #Ps. 19:7; [Ps. 81:5] a testimony in #Ps. 147:19Jacob
and appointed a law in #Ps. 147:19Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6that #ver. 4; Ps. 102:18the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget #Ps. 77:12 the works of God,
but #Ps. 105:45keep his commandments;
8and that they should not be #2 Kgs. 17:14; 2 Chr. 30:7; Ezek. 20:18 like their fathers,
#
Ex. 32:9; 33:3; Deut. 9:7, 24; 31:27; Jer. 5:23 a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation #ver. 37; Job 11:13whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9The Ephraimites, armed with#78:9 Hebrew armed and shooting the bow,
# ver. 57 turned back on the day of battle.
10They #[2 Kgs. 17:15]did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They #See Ps. 106:13 forgot his works
and #ver. 4the wonders that he had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers #ver. 43; See Ex. 7-12; Ps. 72:18 he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in #ver. 43; Num. 13:22; Isa. 19:11, 13; Ezek. 30:14the fields of Zoan.
13He #Ps. 136:13; Ex. 14:21 divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters #Ex. 15:8stand like a heap.
14 # See Ps. 105:39 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15He #ver. 20; Ps. 105:41; 114:8; Ex. 17:6; Isa. 48:21split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16He made streams come out of #Num. 20:8, 10, 11the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him,
# ver. 40, 56; Deut. 9:22; Isa. 63:10 rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They #ver. 41, 56; Ps. 95:9; 106:14; Deut. 6:16; 1 Cor. 10:9tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying,
# [Ex. 16:3; Num. 11:4; 20:3; 21:5] “Can God #See Ps. 23:5spread a table in the wilderness?
20 # ver. 15, 16 He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
#
Num. 11:1
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22because they #ver. 8, 32, 37did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23Yet he commanded the skies above
and #Gen. 7:11; [Mal. 3:10]opened the doors of heaven,
24and he #Ex. 16:4 rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them #Ps. 105:40; [John 6:31]the grain of heaven.
25Man ate of the bread of #Ps. 103:20 the angels;
he sent them food #[ver. 29]in abundance.
26He #Num. 11:31caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27he rained meat on them like #[Gen. 13:16] dust,
winged birds like #[Gen. 22:17]the sand of the seas;
28he #Ex. 16:13; Num. 11:31let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29And they #Num. 11:19, 20 ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they #Num. 11:4, 34craved.
30But before they had satisfied their craving,
#
Num. 11:33; [Job 20:23] while the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed #Isa. 10:16 the strongest of them
and laid low #ver. 63the young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they #See Num. 14; 16; 17 still sinned;
# ver. 22; Num. 14:11 despite his wonders, they did not believe.
33So he made #Num. 14:29, 35; 26:64, 65 their days #Ps. 39:5vanish like#78:33 Hebrew in a breath,#78:33 Or vapor
and their years in terror.
34When he killed them, they #Hos. 5:15sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35They remembered that God was their #Deut. 32:4, 15, 31 rock,
the Most High God their #Ex. 15:13; See Ps. 74:2redeemer.
36But they #Isa. 29:13; Ezek. 33:31 flattered him with their mouths;
they #Isa. 57:11lied to him with their tongues.
37Their #ver. 8 heart was not #Ps. 51:10steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38Yet he, being #Ex. 34:6 compassionate,
#
Num. 14:20
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39He #[Ps. 103:14; Job 10:9] remembered that they were but #Gen. 6:3 flesh,
#
Job 7:7
a wind that passes and comes not again.
40How often they #ver. 17, 56; Ps. 107:11 rebelled against him in the wilderness
and #[Eph. 4:30] grieved him in #Ps. 106:14the desert!
41They #See ver. 18 tested God again and again
and provoked #See Ps. 71:22the Holy One of Israel.
42They #Judg. 8:34did not remember his power#78:42 Hebrew hand
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 # For ver. 43-51, see Ps. 105:27-36 when he performed his #Ex. 7:3; [Ps. 106:22]; Acts 7:36 signs in Egypt
and his #Ex. 4:21; 11:9, 10 marvels in #See ver. 12the fields of Zoan.
44He #See Ex. 7:17-24turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45He sent among them swarms of #See Ex. 8:21-24 flies, which devoured them,
and #See Ex. 8:2-14frogs, which destroyed them.
46He gave their crops to #See Ex. 10:12-15the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with #See Ex. 9:23-25hail
and their sycamores with frost.
48He gave over their #See Ex. 9:19-21cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of #Ex. 12:13, 23; [2 Sam. 24:16]destroying angels.
50He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51He struck down every #Ex. 12:29; [Ps. 105:36; 135:8; 136:10] firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of #Ps. 105:23, 27; 106:22Ham.
52Then he led out his people #See Ps. 77:20like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 # [Ex. 14:19, 20] He led them in safety, so that they #[Ex. 14:13] were not afraid,
but #Ex. 14:27, 28; 15:10the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54And he brought them to his #Ex. 15:17 holy land,
#
Isa. 11:9; 57:13; [Ps. 68:16] to the mountain which his right hand had #Ps. 74:2won.
55He #See Ps. 44:2 drove out nations before them;
he #Josh. 23:4; [Ps. 135:12; 136:21, 22; Acts 13:19]apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56Yet they #ver. 18; Judg. 2:11, 12 tested and #ver. 40rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like #Hos. 7:16; [ver. 9]a deceitful bow.
58For they #Deut. 31:29 provoked him to anger with their #Lev. 26:30; Deut. 12:2; 1 Kgs. 11:7; 12:31; Ezek. 20:28 high places;
they #Num. 25:11; Deut. 32:16, 21; Judg. 2:12 moved him to jealousy with their #Deut. 7:5, 25; 12:3idols.
59When God heard, he was full of #ver. 62; Ps. 106:40; Deut. 3:26wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60He #1 Sam. 4:11; Jer. 7:12, 14; 26:6 forsook his dwelling at #Josh. 18:1Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61and delivered his #Ps. 132:8; [Ps. 63:2; 96:6] power to captivity,
his #[1 Sam. 4:21]glory to the hand of the foe.
62He #[1 Sam. 4:10] gave his people over to the sword
and #ver. 59vented his wrath on his heritage.
63 # [Ps. 79:5; 89:46] Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no #[Jer. 7:34]marriage song.
64Their #1 Sam. 4:11 priests fell by the sword,
and their #Job 27:15widows made no lamentation.
65Then the Lord #Ps. 73:20; See Ps. 35:23awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66And he #[Ps. 40:14]put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67He rejected the tent of #Ps. 80:1; 81:5Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he #Ps. 87:2loves.
69He #See 1 Kgs. 6built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70He #1 Sam. 16:12, 13chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71from #2 Sam. 7:8 following the nursing ewes he brought him
to #2 Sam. 5:2; [Ps. 28:9] shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his #1 Sam. 10:1inheritance.
72With #Ps. 101:2; 1 Kgs. 9:4 upright heart he shepherded them
and #[Ps. 77:20]guided them with his skillful hand.
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