Psalms 78
1 Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
A maskil of Asaph. My people, attend to my teaching: bend your ears to the words of my mouth,
2 I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.
as I open my mouth in a poem on the riddling story of the past.
3 How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
What we have heard and known, and what our ancestors have told us,
4 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.
we will not hide from their children. We will tell to the next generation the praises and might of the Lord, and the wonders that he has done.
5 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:
He set up a testimony in Jacob, a law he appointed in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to make known to their children,
6 That another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.
that the next generation should know it, that the children yet to be born should arise and tell their children;
7 That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.
that in God they might put their confidence, and not forget God’s works; but that they might keep his commandments,
8 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.
and not be like their ancestors, a generation defiant and stubborn, a generation with heart unsteady, and spirit unfaithful towards God.
9 The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle.
Ephraimites, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.
They did not keep God’s covenant, they refused to walk in his law.
11 And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.
They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.
12 Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.
He did wonders before their ancestors in the country of Zoan in Egypt.
13 He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.
Through the sea which he split he brought them, making waters stand up like a heap;
14 And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.
he led them by day with a cloud, all the night with a light of fire.
15 He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.
From the rocks which he split in the wilderness, he gave them to drink as of ocean’s abundance.
16 He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.
He brought streams out of the rock, and made water run down like rivers.
17 And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.
Yet they still went on sinning against him, they defied the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.
They wilfully challenged God, demanding the food that they longed for.
19 And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
‘Is God able,’ such was their challenge, ‘to spread in the desert a table?
20 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?
From the rock that he struck there gushed water, and torrents that overflowed; but can he also give bread, or provide his people with meat?’
21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.
When the Lord heard this, he was furious, and fire was kindled on Jacob, anger flared up against Israel.
22 Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.
For they put no trust in God, no confidence in his help.
23 And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.
So he summoned the clouds above; and, opening the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.
he rained manna upon them for food, and grain of heaven he gave them.
25 Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.
Everyone ate the bread of angels; he sent them food to the full.
26 He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.
He launched the east wind in the heavens, and guided the south by his power.
27 And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.
He rained meat upon them like dust, winged bird like the sand of the sea.
28 And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.
In the midst of their camp he dropped it, all around their tents.
29 So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:
They ate and were more than filled; he had brought them the thing they desired.
30 They were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:
But the thing they desired became loathsome: while their food was still in their mouths,
31 And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.
the wrath of God rose against them. He slew the stoutest among them, and laid low the young men of Israel.
32 In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.
Yet for all this they sinned yet more, and refused to believe in his wonders.
33 And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.
So he ended their days in a breath, and their years in sudden dismay.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.
When he slew them, then they sought after him, they turned and sought God with diligence.
35 And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.
They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
37 But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.
Their heart was not steady with him, they were faithless to his covenant.
38 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.
But he is full of pity: he pardons sin and destroys not. Often he turns his anger away, without stirring his wrath at all.
39 And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.
So he remembered that they were but flesh, breath that passes and does not return.
40 How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?
But how often they rebelled in the desert, and caused him grief in the wilderness,
41 And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel.
tempting God again and again, provoking the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:
They did not remember his strength, nor the day he redeemed from the foe,
43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.
how he set his signs in Egypt, in the country of Zoan his wonders.
44 And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might, not drink.
He turned their canals into blood, their streams undrinkable.
45 He sent amongst them divers sores of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.
He sent forth flies, which devoured them; frogs, too, which destroyed them.
46 And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.
Their crops he gave to the caterpillar, and the fruits of their toil to the locust.
47 And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.
He slew their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
48 And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.
He delivered their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
49 And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.
He let loose his hot anger among them, fury and wrath and distress, a band of destroying angels.
50 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.
He cleared a path for his anger, did not spare them from death, but gave them over to pestilence.
51 And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.
He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
He led forth his people like sheep, he was guide to his flock in the desert.
53 And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: band the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
Securely he led them, and free from fear, while their foes were drowned in the sea.
54 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.
To his holy realm he brought them, to the mountain his right hand had purchased.
55 And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.
He drove out the nations before them, and allotted their land for possession, and their tents for Israel to live in.
56 Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies.
Yet they tempted and angered the Most High God, they did not observe his decrees.
57 And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.
They drew back, false like their ancestors; they failed like a treacherous bow.
58 They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.
Their shrines stirred him to anger, their idols moved him to jealousy.
59 God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.
When God heard of this, he was furious, and he spurned Israel utterly.
60 And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.
He abandoned his home in Shiloh, the tent he had pitched among people.
61 And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.
He gave his strength up to captivity, his glory to the hands of the foe.
62 And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.
He gave his people to the sword, he was furious with his own.
63 Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.
Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage-song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.
65 And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior flushed with wine;
66 And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.
and he beat back his foes, putting them to perpetual scorn.
67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
He disowned the tent of Joseph, he rejected the tribe of Ephraim;
68 But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.
but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.
And he built like the heights his sanctuary, like the earth which he founded forever.
70 And he chose his servant David, and took him from the hocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,
And he chose David his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds.
71 To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.
From the mother-ewes he brought him, to be shepherd to Jacob his people, and to Israel his inheritance.
72 And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skillfulness of his hands.
With upright heart did he shepherd them, and with skilful hands did he guide them.
