תהילים 78
| משכיל לאסף האזינה עמי תורתי הטו אזנכם לאמרי-פי | 1 |
A maskil of Asaph. My people, attend to my teaching: bend your ears to the words of my mouth,
| אפתחה במשל פי אביעה חידות מני-קדם | 2 |
as I open my mouth in a poem on the riddling story of the past.
| אשר שמענו ונדעם ואבותינו ספרו-לנו | 3 |
What we have heard and known, and what our ancestors have told us,
| לא נכחד מבניהם-- לדור אחרון מספרים תהלות יהוה ועזוזו ונפלאתיו אשר עשה | 4 |
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.
| ויקם עדות ביעקב ותורה שם בישראל אשר צוה את-אבותינו-- להודיעם לבניהם | 5 |
He set up a testimony in Jacob, a law he appointed in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to make known to their children,
| למען ידעו דור אחרון--בנים יולדו יקמו ויספרו לבניהם | 6 |
that the next generation should know it, that the children yet to be born should arise and tell their children;
| וישימו באלהים כסלם ולא ישכחו מעללי-אל ומצותיו ינצרו | 7 |
that in God they might put their confidence, and not forget God’s works; but that they might keep his commandments,
| ולא יהיו כאבותם-- דור סורר ומרה דור לא-הכין לבו ולא-נאמנה את-אל רוחו | 8 |
and not be like their ancestors, a generation defiant and stubborn, a generation with heart unsteady, and spirit unfaithful towards God.
| בני-אפרים נושקי רומי-קשת הפכו ביום קרב | 9 |
Ephraimites, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.
| לא שמרו ברית אלהים ובתורתו מאנו ללכת | 10 |
They did not keep God’s covenant, they refused to walk in his law.
| וישכחו עלילותיו ונפלאותיו אשר הראם | 11 |
They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.
| נגד אבותם עשה פלא בארץ מצרים שדה-צען | 12 |
He did wonders before their ancestors in the country of Zoan in Egypt.
| בקע ים ויעבירם ויצב-מים כמו-נד | 13 |
Through the sea which he split he brought them, making waters stand up like a heap;
| וינחם בענן יומם וכל-הלילה באור אש | 14 |
he led them by day with a cloud, all the night with a light of fire.
| יבקע צרים במדבר וישק כתהמות רבה | 15 |
From the rocks which he split in the wilderness, he gave them to drink as of ocean’s abundance.
| ויוצא נוזלים מסלע ויורד כנהרות מים | 16 |
He brought streams out of the rock, and made water run down like rivers.
| ויוסיפו עוד לחטא-לו-- למרות עליון בציה | 17 |
Yet they still went on sinning against him, they defied the Most High in the desert.
| וינסו-אל בלבבם-- לשאל-אכל לנפשם | 18 |
They wilfully challenged God, demanding the food that they longed for.
| וידברו באלהים אמרו היוכל אל--לערך שלחן במדבר | 19 |
‘Is God able,’ such was their challenge, ‘to spread in the desert a table?
| הן הכה-צור ויזובו מים-- ונחלים ישטפו הגם-לחם יוכל תת אם-יכין שאר לעמו | 20 |
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?’
| לכן שמע יהוה-- ויתעבר ואש נשקה ביעקב וגם-אף עלה בישראל | 21 |
When the Lord heard this, he was furious, and fire was kindled on Jacob, anger flared up against Israel.
| כי לא האמינו באלהים ולא בטחו בישועתו | 22 |
For they put no trust in God, no confidence in his help.
| ויצו שחקים ממעל ודלתי שמים פתח | 23 |
So he summoned the clouds above; and, opening the doors of heaven,
| וימטר עליהם מן לאכל ודגן-שמים נתן למו | 24 |
he rained manna upon them for food, and grain of heaven he gave them.
| לחם אבירים אכל איש צידה שלח להם לשבע | 25 |
Everyone ate the bread of angels; he sent them food to the full.
| יסע קדים בשמים וינהג בעזו תימן | 26 |
He launched the east wind in the heavens, and guided the south by his power.
| וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר וכחול ימים עוף כנף | 27 |
He rained meat upon them like dust, winged bird like the sand of the sea.
| ויפל בקרב מחנהו סביב למשכנתיו | 28 |
In the midst of their camp he dropped it, all around their tents.
| ויאכלו וישבעו מאד ותאותם יבא להם | 29 |
They ate and were more than filled; he had brought them the thing they desired.
| לא-זרו מתאותם עוד אכלם בפיהם | 30 |
But the thing they desired became loathsome: while their food was still in their mouths,
| ואף אלהים עלה בהם ויהרג במשמניהם ובחורי ישראל הכריע | 31 |
the wrath of God rose against them. He slew the stoutest among them, and laid low the young men of Israel.
| בכל-זאת חטאו-עוד ולא-האמינו בנפלאותיו | 32 |
Yet for all this they sinned yet more, and refused to believe in his wonders.
| ויכל-בהבל ימיהם ושנותם בבהלה | 33 |
So he ended their days in a breath, and their years in sudden dismay.
| אם-הרגם ודרשוהו ושבו ושחרו-אל | 34 |
When he slew them, then they sought after him, they turned and sought God with diligence.
| ויזכרו כי-אלהים צורם ואל עליון גאלם | 35 |
They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.
| ויפתוהו בפיהם ובלשונם יכזבו-לו | 36 |
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
| ולבם לא-נכון עמו ולא נאמנו בבריתו | 37 |
Their heart was not steady with him, they were faithless to his covenant.
| והוא רחום יכפר עון-- ולא-ישחית והרבה להשיב אפו ולא-יעיר כל-חמתו | 38 |
But he is full of pity: he pardons sin and destroys not. Often he turns his anger away, without stirring his wrath at all.
| ויזכר כי-בשר המה רוח הולך ולא ישוב | 39 |
So he remembered that they were but flesh, breath that passes and does not return.
| כמה ימרוהו במדבר יעציבוהו בישימון | 40 |
But how often they rebelled in the desert, and caused him grief in the wilderness,
| וישובו וינסו אל וקדוש ישראל התוו | 41 |
tempting God again and again, provoking the Holy One of Israel.
| לא-זכרו את-ידו יום אשר-פדם מני-צר | 42 |
They did not remember his strength, nor the day he redeemed from the foe,
| אשר-שם במצרים אתותיו ומופתיו בשדה-צען | 43 |
how he set his signs in Egypt, in the country of Zoan his wonders.
| ויהפך לדם יאריהם ונזליהם בל-ישתיון | 44 |
He turned their canals into blood, their streams undrinkable.
| ישלח בהם ערב ויאכלם וצפרדע ותשחיתם | 45 |
He sent forth flies, which devoured them; frogs, too, which destroyed them.
| ויתן לחסיל יבולם ויגיעם לארבה | 46 |
Their crops he gave to the caterpillar, and the fruits of their toil to the locust.
| יהרג בברד גפנם ושקמותם בחנמל | 47 |
He slew their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
| ויסגר לברד בעירם ומקניהם לרשפים | 48 |
He delivered their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
| ישלח-בם חרון אפו--עברה וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים | 49 |
He let loose his hot anger among them, fury and wrath and distress, a band of destroying angels.
| יפלס נתיב לאפו לא-חשך ממות נפשם וחיתם לדבר הסגיר | 50 |
He cleared a path for his anger, did not spare them from death, but gave them over to pestilence.
| ויך כל-בכור במצרים ראשית אונים באהלי-חם | 51 |
He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
| ויסע כצאן עמו וינהגם כעדר במדבר | 52 |
He led forth his people like sheep, he was guide to his flock in the desert.
| וינחם לבטח ולא פחדו ואת-אויביהם כסה הים | 53 |
Securely he led them, and free from fear, while their foes were drowned in the sea.
| ויביאם אל-גבול קדשו הר-זה קנתה ימינו | 54 |
To his holy realm he brought them, to the mountain his right hand had purchased.
| ויגרש מפניהם גוים-- ויפילם בחבל נחלה וישכן באהליהם שבטי ישראל | 55 |
He drove out the nations before them, and allotted their land for possession, and their tents for Israel to live in.
| וינסו וימרו את-אלהים עליון ועדותיו לא שמרו | 56 |
Yet they tempted and angered the Most High God, they did not observe his decrees.
| ויסגו ויבגדו כאבותם נהפכו כקשת רמיה | 57 |
They drew back, false like their ancestors; they failed like a treacherous bow.
| ויכעיסוהו בבמותם ובפסיליהם יקניאוהו | 58 |
Their shrines stirred him to anger, their idols moved him to jealousy.
| שמע אלהים ויתעבר וימאס מאד בישראל | 59 |
When God heard of this, he was furious, and he spurned Israel utterly.
| ויטש משכן שלו אהל שכן באדם | 60 |
He abandoned his home in Shiloh, the tent he had pitched among people.
| ויתן לשבי עזו ותפארתו ביד-צר | 61 |
He gave his strength up to captivity, his glory to the hands of the foe.
| ויסגר לחרב עמו ובנחלתו התעבר | 62 |
He gave his people to the sword, he was furious with his own.
| בחוריו אכלה-אש ובתולתיו לא הוללו | 63 |
Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage-song.
| כהניו בחרב נפלו ואלמנתיו לא תבכינה | 64 |
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.
| ויקץ כישן אדני כגבור מתרונן מיין | 65 |
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior flushed with wine;
| ויך-צריו אחור חרפת עולם נתן למו | 66 |
and he beat back his foes, putting them to perpetual scorn.
| וימאס באהל יוסף ובשבט אפרים לא בחר | 67 |
He disowned the tent of Joseph, he rejected the tribe of Ephraim;
| ויבחר את-שבט יהודה את-הר ציון אשר אהב | 68 |
but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
| ויבן כמו-רמים מקדשו כארץ יסדה לעולם | 69 |
And he built like the heights his sanctuary, like the earth which he founded forever.
| ויבחר בדוד עבדו ויקחהו ממכלאת צאן | 70 |
And he chose David his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds.
| מאחר עלות הביאו לרעות ביעקב עמו ובישראל נחלתו | 71 |
From the mother-ewes he brought him, to be shepherd to Jacob his people, and to Israel his inheritance.
| וירעם כתם לבבו ובתבונות כפיו ינחם | 72 |
With upright heart did he shepherd them, and with skilful hands did he guide them.
