Psalms 78

1 A maschil of Asaph. Hear my teaching, my people, listen to the words of my mouth.⋮

2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will sing about hidden things about the past.⋮

3 These are things that we have heard and learned, things that our ancestors have told us.⋮

4 We will not keep them from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the praiseworthy deeds of Yahweh, his strength, and the wonders that he has done.⋮

5 For he established covenant decrees in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel. He commanded our ancestors that they were to teach them to their children.⋮

6 He commanded this so that the generation to come might know his decrees, the children not yet born, who should tell them in turn to their own children.⋮

7 Then they would place their hope in God and not forget his deeds but keep his commandments.⋮

8 Then they would not be like their ancestors, who were a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose hearts were not right, and whose spirits were not committed and faithful to God.⋮

9 The Ephraimites were armed with bows, but they turned back on the day of battle.⋮

10 They did not keep the covenant with God, and they refused to obey his law.⋮

11 They forgot his deeds, the wonderful things that he had shown them.⋮

12 They forgot the marvelous things he did in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the land of Zoan.⋮

13 He divided the sea and led them across it; he made the waters to stand like walls.⋮

14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud and all the night with the light of fire.⋮

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness, and he gave them water abundantly, enough to fill the depths of the sea.⋮

16 He made streams flow out of the rock and made the water flow like rivers.⋮

17 Yet they continued to sin against him, rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.⋮

18 They challenged God in their hearts by asking for food to satisfy their appetites.⋮

19 They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really lay out a table for us in the wilderness?⋮

20 See, when he struck the rock, waters gushed out and streams overflowed. But can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”⋮

21 When Yahweh heard this, he was angry; so his fire burned against Jacob, and his anger attacked Israel,⋮

22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation.⋮

23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of the sky.⋮

24 He rained down manna for them to eat, and gave them the grain from heaven.⋮

25 People ate the bread of angels. He sent them food in abundance.⋮

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky, and by his power he guided the south wind.⋮

27 He rained down meat on them like dust, birds as numerous as the sands of the sea.⋮

28 They fell in the middle of their camp, all around their tents.⋮

29 So they ate and were full. He gave them what they craved.⋮

30 But they had not yet filled up; their food was still in their mouths.⋮

31 Then God's anger attacked them and killed the strongest of them. He brought down the young men of Israel.⋮

32 Despite this, they continued to sin and did not believe his wonderful deeds.⋮

33 Therefore God cut short their days; their years were filled with terror.⋮

34 Whenever God afflicted them, they would start to seek him, and they would return and look earnestly for him.⋮

35 They would call to mind that God was their rock and that the Most High God was their rescuer.⋮

36 But they would flatter him with their mouth and lie to him with their words.⋮

37 For their hearts were not firmly fixed on him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.⋮

38 Yet he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many times he held back his anger and did not stir up all his wrath.⋮

39 He called to mind that they were made of flesh, a wind that passes away and does not return.⋮

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the barren regions!⋮

41 Again and again they challenged God and offended the Holy One of Israel.⋮

42 They did not think about his power, how he had rescued them from the enemy⋮

43 when he performed his terrifying signs in Egypt and his wonders in the region of Zoan.⋮

44 He turned the Egyptians' rivers to blood so that they could not drink from their streams.⋮

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them and frogs that overran their land.⋮

46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper and their labor to the locust.⋮

47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with more hail.⋮

48 He rained hail on their cattle and hurled lightning bolts at their livestock.⋮

49 The fierceness of his anger lashed out against them. He sent wrath, fury, and trouble like agents who bring disaster.⋮

50 He leveled a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.⋮

51 He killed all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of their strength in the tents of Ham.⋮

52 He led his own people out like sheep and guided them through the wilderness like a flock.⋮

53 He led them secure and unafraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.⋮

54 Then he brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountain that his right hand acquired.⋮

55 He drove out the nations from before them and assigned them their inheritance. He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.⋮

56 Yet they challenged and defied the Most High God and did not keep his solemn commands.⋮

57 They were unfaithful and acted treacherously like their fathers; they were as undependable as a faulty bow.⋮

58 For they made him angry with their high places and provoked him to jealous anger with their idols.⋮

59 When God heard this, he was angry and completely rejected Israel.⋮

60 He abandoned the sanctuary of Shiloh, the tent where he had lived among people.⋮

61 He allowed his strength to be captured and gave his glory into the enemy's hand.⋮

62 He handed his people over to the sword, and he was angry with his heritage.⋮

63 Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs.⋮

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.⋮

65 Then the Lord awakened as one from sleep, like a warrior who shouts because of wine.⋮

66 He drove his adversaries back; he put them to everlasting shame.⋮

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, and he did not chose the tribe of Ephraim.⋮

68 He chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion that he loved.⋮

69 He built his sanctuary like the heavens, like the earth that he has established forever.⋮

70 He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.⋮

71 He took him from following the ewes with their young, and he brought him to be shepherd of Jacob, his people, and of Israel, his heritage.⋮

72 David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart, and he guided them with the skill of his hands.⋮