← Psalm

Psalm 78

1
A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth. Begin Abide·
2
I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning, Begin Abide·
3
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. Begin Abide·
4
We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed. Begin Abide·
5
For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, Begin Abide·
6
that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children Begin Abide·
7
that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments. Begin Abide·
8
Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Begin Abide·
9
The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. Begin Abide·
10
They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. Begin Abide·
11
They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them. Begin Abide·
12
He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. Begin Abide·
13
He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. Begin Abide·
14
He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. Begin Abide·
15
He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. Begin Abide·
16
He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers. Begin Abide·
17
But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. Begin Abide·
18
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. Begin Abide·
19
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? Begin Abide·
20
When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?” Begin Abide·
21
Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, Begin Abide·
22
because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. Begin Abide·
23
Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. Begin Abide·
24
He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. Begin Abide·
25
Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. Begin Abide·
26
He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. Begin Abide·
27
He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. Begin Abide·
28
He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. Begin Abide·
29
So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. Begin Abide·
30
Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, Begin Abide·
31
God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel. Begin Abide·
32
In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. Begin Abide·
33
So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. Begin Abide·
34
When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. Begin Abide·
35
And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. Begin Abide·
36
But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. Begin Abide·
37
Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant. Begin Abide·
38
And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. Begin Abide·
39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. Begin Abide·
40
How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Begin Abide·
41
Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. Begin Abide·
42
They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary, Begin Abide·
43
when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. Begin Abide·
44
He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. Begin Abide·
45
He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. Begin Abide·
46
He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. Begin Abide·
47
He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet. Begin Abide·
48
He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. Begin Abide·
49
He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels. Begin Abide·
50
He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague. Begin Abide·
51
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. Begin Abide·
52
He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. Begin Abide·
53
He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies. Begin Abide·
54
He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired. Begin Abide·
55
He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. Begin Abide·
56
But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. Begin Abide·
57
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. Begin Abide·
58
They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. Begin Abide·
59
On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely. Begin Abide·
60
He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men. Begin Abide·
61
He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary. Begin Abide·
62
He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage. Begin Abide·
63
Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs. Begin Abide·
64
His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament. Begin Abide·
65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. Begin Abide·
66
He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame. Begin Abide·
67
He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim. Begin Abide·
68
But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. Begin Abide·
69
He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever. Begin Abide·
70
He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; Begin Abide·
71
from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. Begin Abide·
72
So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands. Begin Abide·