Psalms 78

1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.

An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings of my mouth;

2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

I will open, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; —

3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to 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.

We will not withhold [them] from their children, To a later generation, recounting the praises of Yahweh, Even his might and his wonders which he wrought;

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

When he set up a testimony in Jacob, And, a law, appointed in Israel, —Which he commanded our fathers, That they might make them 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

To the end, A later generation, might come to know, Children who should be born, Who should arise, and recount [them] to their children;

7 that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

That they might set, in Elohim, their confidence, —And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;

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.

And not become, like their fathers, a generation stubborn and rebellious, —A generation that fixed not their heart, Neither was their spirit, faithful with GOD.

9 The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

The sons of Ephraim—armed bowmen, Turned 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, refused to walk;

11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.

And forgat His doings, And his wonders which he had showed them:

12 He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, —In the land of Egypt—the field of Zoan:

13 He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;

14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

And led them, by a cloud, in the daytime, And all the night, by a light of fire;

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

He used to cleave rocks in the desert, And let them drink as out of mighty deeps;

16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

And he brought forth streams out of the cliff, And caused waters to flow down, like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

But again, once more sinned they against him, Resisting the Most High in a land of drought:

18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:

19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

Yea they spake against Elohim, —They said, Can GOD prepare a table in the desert?

20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

Lo! he hath smitten a rock, And waters, have gushed out, Yea, torrents, have rushed along, —Food also, can he give? Or provide flesh 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, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, —And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted against Israel;

22 because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

Because, They believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.

Though he had commanded the skies above, And, the doors of the heavens, had opened;

24 He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

And had rained on them manna to eat, And, the corn of the heavens, had given to them:

25 Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;

26 He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.

He let loose an east wind in the heavens, Then guided he, in his might, a south wind;

27 He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

And rained upon them flesh as the dust, And, like the sand of the seas, birds of wing;

28 He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.

And let them fall in the midst of their camp, —Round about their habitations.

29 So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.

So they did eat and were abundantly filled, When, what they longed for, he had brought them: —

30 Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,

They had not turned away from what they had longed for, Yet was their food in their mouth,

31 God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

When, the anger of God, mounted against them, And he slew of their vigorous youths, And, the choice young men of Israel, caused he to bow down in death.

32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

For all this, sinned they still, And believed not in his wonders;

33 So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

So he ended, in a breath, their days, And their years, in a sudden terror!

34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

If he slew [of] them, then they sought him, Yea they turned, and did earnestly seek GOD;

35 And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

And remembered that, Elohim, was their rock, Yea, EL Most High, their Redeemer:

36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;

37 Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty 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.

Yet, he, full of compassion, would put a propitiatory-covering over iniquity, and not destroy, —Yea, many a time, turned he back his anger, And would not stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

So then he remembered, That, Flesh, they were, A Wind departing, that returneth not.

40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!

How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:

41 Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Yea they again put GOD to the test, And, to the Holy One of Israel, caused they sorrow:

42 They did not remember His power — the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

They remembered not his hand—The day, When he ransomed them from the adversary;

43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

When he set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;

44 He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink.

When he turned, into blood, their Nile-streams, And, their own rivers, could they not drink;

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

He sent among them, The gad-fly, and it devoured them, And the frog, and it despoiled them;

46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.

When he gave to the corn-locust their produce, And their toil, to the swarming locust;

47 He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

He killed, with hail, their vine, And their sycomores, with frost:

48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.

When he gave up, to hail-storms, their beasts, And their cattle, to pestilent fevers;

49 He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity— a band of destroying angels.

He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, —A mission of messengers of misfortune:

50 He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.

He leveled a path for his anger, Withheld not, from death, their soul, But, their life—to the pestilence, he delivered:

51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.

So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, in the tents of Ham;

52 He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;

53 He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

Yea he led them securely, and they dreaded not, And, their enemies, the sea did cover.

54 He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired.

Then brought he them within his own holy bounds, The mountain-range, which his right hand made his own:

55 He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

So he drave out, before them, [whole] nations, And allotted them, by line, an inheritance, And caused to dwell, in their own homes, the tribes of Israel.

56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.

But they tested and resisted God Most High, And, his testimonies, did not observe;

57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.

But drew back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers, They turned aside, like deceitful bowmen;

58 They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

And provoked him to anger with their high places, And, with their images, used to move him to jealousy.

59 On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.

God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.

So he gave up the habitation of Shiloh, The tent he had set up among Men;

61 He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.

Yea he gave up, into captivity, his strength, And his beauty into the hand of an adversary;

62 He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage.

And delivered up, to the sword, his people, And, with his own inheritance, was he wroth;

63 Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

His young men, were devoured by fire, And, his virgins, were not praised in song;

64 His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

His priests, by the sword, did fall, And, his widows, were not able to bewail.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

Then awoke, as one that had slept, Adonay, As a warrior exulting with wine!

66 He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.

So he smote his adversaries in the rear, Reproach age-abiding, laid he upon them.

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim.

Howbeit he rejected the tent of Joseph, And, the tribe of Ephraim, did not choose:

68 But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

But made choice of the tribe of Judah, The mountain of Zion, which he loved;

69 He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.

And built, like the heights, his sanctuary, Like the earth, he founded it to times age-abiding.

70 He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

And made choice of David his servant, And took him from among the folds of the sheep:

71 from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance.

From after the sucking ewes, he brought him in, —To be shepherd to Jacob his people, And to Israel, his inheritance.

72 So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

So he did shepherd them, according to the singleness of his heart, And, with the discernment of his hands, used he to guide them.