THE BOOK OF PSALMS

 

Psalm 78

Maschil of Asaph.

1 ¶ Give ear, O my people, to my instruction: pay attention to what I say.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will speak of mysteries from the past:

3 Things we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.

4 Which were not hidden from their children, but told to the next generation: the praises of the LORD, his strength, and the wonderful things that he has done.

5 How he established the truth in Jacob, and set up the law in Israel, which he ordered our fathers to teach to their children:

6 So the coming generation would know them, and children yet to be born; might grow up and tell them to their children:

7 That they might put their trust in God, and not forget the things God did, but keep his commandments:

8 And might not be a stubborn and rebellious generation like their fathers; a generation whose heart was not loyal, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 ¶ The children of Ephraim, were armed, and carrying bows, yet turned back in the day of battle.

10 They did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

11 And forgot the things he had done, and the wonders that he had shown them.

12 He did marvelous things in the presence of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea, and led them through; and he made the waters stand up like a wall.

14 During the day he led them by a cloud, and all night by the light of a fire.

15 He opened rocks in the desert, and gave them water to drink as out of the great depths.

16 He brought streams out of the rock, and caused water to run down like rivers.

17 And they sinned even more against him by rebelling against the most High in the desert.

18 And they tempted God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

19 Yea, they spoke against God; asking, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; but can he also provide food? can he provide meat for his people?

21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was angry: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

22 Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation:

23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the bread of heaven.

25 So man ate the bread of angels: and he sent them food in abundance.

26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens: and by his power guided the south wind.

27 He rained flesh upon them like dust, and feathered fowls like the sand of the sea:

28 And he let them fall in the middle of their camp, all around their tents.

29 So they ate, and were filled: for he gave them what they desired;

30 But before they had satisfied their craving, while their meat was still in their mouths,

31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this they continued sinning, and did not believe because of the wonderful things he had done.

33 Therefore he made their days end in futility, and their years in trouble.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they repented and eagerly sought after God.

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the most high God was their redeemer.

36 Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.

37 For their heart was not right with him, nor were they faithful to his covenant.

38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them: yes, he restrained his anger many times, and did not stir up all his fury.

39 For he remembered that they were only flesh; a wind that passes away, and does not return.

40 ¶ How often they provoked him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!

41 Yea, time and again they tested God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember his hand, or the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

43 How he had done miracles in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

44 And turned their rivers into blood; and their streams, so that they could not drink from them.

45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.

48 He also gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He let loose upon them the fierceness of his anger, fury, indignation, and calamity, a band of deadly messengers.

50 He cleared a path for his anger; and did not spare them from death, but let the plague take their lives;

51 And struck down all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the dwelling places of Ham:

52 But led his own people out like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he led them on safely, so that they were not afraid: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had won.

55 He also drove out the heathen before them, allotted to them their land as an inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and did not keep his testimonies:

57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were twisted and warped like an inaccurate bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 When God heard them, he was angry, and utterly rejected Israel:

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent in which he had dwelt among men;

61 And let his fortress be captured, and his glory go into the enemy’s hand.

62 He also gave his people over to the sword; and was angry with his inheritance.

63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given in marriage.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke like one who had been sleeping, and like a warrior from the effects of wine.

66 Then he beat his enemies back: and he put them to everlasting shame.

67 Moreover he rejected Joseph’s tents, and did not chose the tribe of Ephraim:

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, and mount Zion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary like the high heavens, and like the earth which he has established forever.

70 He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

71 From tending ewes with their young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.