Psalms 78
1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.
Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.
3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
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.
They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:
6 that the coming generation would know them— even children yet to be born— to arise and tell their own children
That another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.
7 that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.
That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.
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.
That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.
The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.
10 They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.
They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.
11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.
And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.
12 He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.
13 He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.
14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.
16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.
17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.
18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.
19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”
Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?
21 Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,
Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.
22 because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.
Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.
23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.
And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.
Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.
26 He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.
He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.
27 He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.
28 He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.
29 So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.
So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:
30 Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,
They were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:
31 God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.
And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.
In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.
33 So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.
And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.
34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.
35 And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.
36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.
And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:
37 Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.
But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.
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.
But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.
40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?
41 Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel.
42 They did not remember His power — the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:
43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.
How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.
44 He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink.
And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might, not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.
He sent amongst them divers sores of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.
And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.
48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.
And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.
49 He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity— a band of destroying angels.
And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.
50 He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.
He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.
51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.
And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.
52 He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.
And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: band the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired.
And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.
55 He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.
56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.
Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies.
57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.
58 They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.
59 On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.
God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.
And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.
61 He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.
And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.
62 He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage.
And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.
63 Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.
Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.
64 His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.
66 He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.
And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim.
And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.
But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.
69 He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.
And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.
70 He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
And he chose his servant David, and took him from the hocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,
71 from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance.
To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.
72 So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.
And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skillfulness of his hands.
