Psalms 78

1 An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings 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, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; —

I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning.

3 Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to us;

How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4 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;

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 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;

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 To the end, A later generation, might come to know, Children who should be born, Who should arise, and recount [them] to their 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 might set, in Elohim, their confidence, —And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;

That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.

8 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.

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 sons of Ephraim—armed bowmen, Turned in 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 kept not the covenant of God, And, in his law, refused to walk;

They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.

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

And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them.

12 In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, —In the land of Egypt—the field 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 clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;

He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

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

And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.

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

He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

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

He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers.

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

And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.

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

And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

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

And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20 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?

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, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, —And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted 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 believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;

Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.

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

And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.

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

And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.

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

Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

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

He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.

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

And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.

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

And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.

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

So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:

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

They were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:

31 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.

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

In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works.

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

And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.

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

When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.

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

And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.

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

And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:

37 But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty in his covenant:

But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.

38 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.

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

And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.

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

How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?

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

And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel.

42 They remembered not his hand—The day, When he ransomed 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 set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;

How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

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

And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might, not drink.

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

He sent amongst them divers sores of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.

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

And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.

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

And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.

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

And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire.

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

And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

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

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 So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, 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 And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;

And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

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

And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: band the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

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

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 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.

And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

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

Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies.

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

And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

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

They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.

59 God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.

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

And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.

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

And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

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

And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance.

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

Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented.

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

Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.

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

And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.

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

And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach.

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

And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

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

But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

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

And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.

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

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

To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

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

And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skillfulness of his hands.