Psa 78
 

Psalms 78

Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil
Probably a musical or liturgical term
of bAsaph.

1 cGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 dI will open my mouth ein a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3things that we have heard and known,
that our ffathers have told us.
4We will not ghide them from their children,
but htell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and ithe wonders that he has done.
5 He established ja testimony in kJacob
and appointed a law in lIsrael,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6that mthe 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 nthe works of God,
but okeep his commandments;
8and that they should not be plike their fathers,
qa stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation rwhose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with
Hebrew  armed and shooting
the bow,
tturned back on the day of battle.
10They udid not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They vforgot his works
and wthe wonders that he had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers xhe performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in ythe fields of Zoan.
13He zdivided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters aastand like a heap.
14 abIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15He acsplit rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16He made streams come out of adthe rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
aerebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They aftested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying,
agCan God ahspread a table in the wilderness?
20 aiHe struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
aja fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22because they akdid not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23Yet he commanded the skies above
and alopened the doors of heaven,
24and he amrained down on them manna to eat
and gave them anthe grain of heaven.
25Man ate of the bread of aothe angels;
he sent them food apin abundance.
26He aqcaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27he rained meat on them like ardust,
winged birds like asthe sand of the seas;
28he atlet them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29And they auate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they avcraved.
30But before they had satisfied their craving,
awwhile the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed axthe strongest of them
and laid low aythe young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they azstill sinned;
badespite his wonders, they did not believe.
33So he made bbtheir days bcvanish like
Hebrew in
a breath,
Or vapor

and their years in terror.
34When he killed them, they bfsought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35They remembered that God was their bgrock,
the Most High God their bhredeemer.
36But they biflattered him with their mouths;
they bjlied to him with their tongues.
37Their bkheart was not blsteadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38Yet he, being bmcompassionate,
bnatoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39He boremembered that they were but bpflesh,
bqa wind that passes and comes not again.
40How often they brrebelled against him in the wilderness
and bsgrieved him in btthe desert!
41They butested God again and again
and provoked bvthe Holy One of Israel.
42They bwdid not remember his power
Hebrew hand

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 bywhen he performed his bzsigns in Egypt
and his camarvels in cbthe fields of Zoan.
44He ccturned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45He sent among them swarms of cdflies, which devoured them,
and cefrogs, which destroyed them.
46He gave their crops to cfthe destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with cghail
and their sycamores with frost.
48He gave over their chcattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of cidestroying 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 cjfirstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of ckHam.
52Then he led out his people cllike sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 cmHe led them in safety, so that they cnwere not afraid,
but cothe sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54And he brought them to his cpholy land,
cqto the mountain which his right hand had crwon.
55He csdrove out nations before them;
he ctapportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they cutested and cvrebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
57but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like cwa deceitful bow.
58For they cxprovoked him to anger with their cyhigh places;
they czmoved him to jealousy with their daidols.
59When God heard, he was full of dbwrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60He dcforsook his dwelling at ddShiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61and delivered his depower to captivity,
his dfglory to the hand of the foe.
62He dggave his people over to the sword
and dhvented his wrath on his heritage.
63 diFire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no djmarriage song.
64Their dkpriests fell by the sword,
and their dlwidows made no lamentation.
65Then the Lord dmawoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66And he dnput his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of doJoseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he dploves.
69He dqbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70He drchose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71from dsfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him
to dtshepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his duinheritance.
72With dvupright heart he shepherded them
and dwguided them with his skillful hand.
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