תהילים 78
| משכיל לאסף האזינה עמי תורתי הטו אזנכם לאמרי-פי | 1 |
A contemplation by Asaph. Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
| אפתחה במשל פי אביעה חידות מני-קדם | 2 |
I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
| אשר שמענו ונדעם ואבותינו ספרו-לנו | 3 |
which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
| לא נכחד מבניהם-- לדור אחרון מספרים תהלות יהוה ועזוזו ונפלאתיו אשר עשה | 4 |
We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
| ויקם עדות ביעקב ותורה שם בישראל אשר צוה את-אבותינו-- להודיעם לבניהם | 5 |
For he established a covenant in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;
| למען ידעו דור אחרון--בנים יולדו יקמו ויספרו לבניהם | 6 |
that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,
| וישימו באלהים כסלם ולא ישכחו מעללי-אל ומצותיו ינצרו | 7 |
that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
| ולא יהיו כאבותם-- דור סורר ומרה דור לא-הכין לבו ולא-נאמנה את-אל רוחו | 8 |
and might not be as their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
| בני-אפרים נושקי רומי-קשת הפכו ביום קרב | 9 |
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
| לא שמרו ברית אלהים ובתורתו מאנו ללכת | 10 |
They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk by his Torah.
| וישכחו עלילותיו ונפלאותיו אשר הראם | 11 |
They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
| נגד אבותם עשה פלא בארץ מצרים שדה-צען | 12 |
He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
| בקע ים ויעבירם ויצב-מים כמו-נד | 13 |
He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.
| וינחם בענן יומם וכל-הלילה באור אש | 14 |
In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
| יבקע צרים במדבר וישק כתהמות רבה | 15 |
He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
| ויוצא נוזלים מסלע ויורד כנהרות מים | 16 |
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
| ויוסיפו עוד לחטא-לו-- למרות עליון בציה | 17 |
Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
| וינסו-אל בלבבם-- לשאל-אכל לנפשם | 18 |
They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.
| וידברו באלהים אמרו היוכל אל--לערך שלחן במדבר | 19 |
Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
| הן הכה-צור ויזובו מים-- ונחלים ישטפו הגם-לחם יוכל תת אם-יכין שאר לעמו | 20 |
Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”
| לכן שמע יהוה-- ויתעבר ואש נשקה ביעקב וגם-אף עלה בישראל | 21 |
Therefore the LORD heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,
| כי לא האמינו באלהים ולא בטחו בישועתו | 22 |
because they didn’t believe in God, and didn’t trust in his salvation [yeshuat].
| ויצו שחקים ממעל ודלתי שמים פתח | 23 |
Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.
| וימטר עליהם מן לאכל ודגן-שמים נתן למו | 24 |
He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.
| לחם אבירים אכל איש צידה שלח להם לשבע | 25 |
Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
| יסע קדים בשמים וינהג בעזו תימן | 26 |
He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
| וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר וכחול ימים עוף כנף | 27 |
He also rained meat on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas.
| ויפל בקרב מחנהו סביב למשכנתיו | 28 |
He let them fall in the middle of their camp, around their habitations.
| ויאכלו וישבעו מאד ותאותם יבא להם | 29 |
So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.
| לא-זרו מתאותם עוד אכלם בפיהם | 30 |
They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
| ואף אלהים עלה בהם ויהרג במשמניהם ובחורי ישראל הכריע | 31 |
when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their strongest, and struck down the young men of Israel.
| בכל-זאת חטאו-עוד ולא-האמינו בנפלאותיו | 32 |
For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
| ויכל-בהבל ימיהם ושנותם בבהלה | 33 |
Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
| אם-הרגם ודרשוהו ושבו ושחרו-אל | 34 |
When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
| ויזכרו כי-אלהים צורם ואל עליון גאלם | 35 |
They remembered that God was their rock, 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 |
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.
| והוא רחום יכפר עון-- ולא-ישחית והרבה להשיב אפו ולא-יעיר כל-חמתו | 38 |
But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
| ויזכר כי-בשר המה רוח הולך ולא ישוב | 39 |
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
| כמה ימרוהו במדבר יעציבוהו בישימון | 40 |
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
| וישובו וינסו אל וקדוש ישראל התוו | 41 |
They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
| לא-זכרו את-ידו יום אשר-פדם מני-צר | 42 |
They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
| אשר-שם במצרים אתותיו ומופתיו בשדה-צען | 43 |
how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,
| ויהפך לדם יאריהם ונזליהם בל-ישתיון | 44 |
he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.
| ישלח בהם ערב ויאכלם וצפרדע ותשחיתם | 45 |
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
| ויתן לחסיל יבולם ויגיעם לארבה | 46 |
He also gave their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
| יהרג בברד גפנם ושקמותם בחנמל | 47 |
He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.
| ויסגר לברד בעירם ומקניהם לרשפים | 48 |
He also gave over their livestock to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
| ישלח-בם חרון אפו--עברה וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים | 49 |
He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
| יפלס נתיב לאפו לא-חשך ממות נפשם וחיתם לדבר הסגיר | 50 |
He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,
| ויך כל-בכור במצרים ראשית אונים באהלי-חם | 51 |
and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
| ויסע כצאן עמו וינהגם כעדר במדבר | 52 |
But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
| וינחם לבטח ולא פחדו ואת-אויביהם כסה הים | 53 |
He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
| ויביאם אל-גבול קדשו הר-זה קנתה ימינו | 54 |
He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
| ויגרש מפניהם גוים-- ויפילם בחבל נחלה וישכן באהליהם שבטי ישראל | 55 |
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
| וינסו וימרו את-אלהים עליון ועדותיו לא שמרו | 56 |
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,
| ויסגו ויבגדו כאבותם נהפכו כקשת רמיה | 57 |
but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
| ויכעיסוהו בבמותם ובפסיליהם יקניאוהו | 58 |
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
| שמע אלהים ויתעבר וימאס מאד בישראל | 59 |
When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,
| ויטש משכן שלו אהל שכן באדם | 60 |
so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men,
| ויתן לשבי עזו ותפארתו ביד-צר | 61 |
and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand.
| ויסגר לחרב עמו ובנחלתו התעבר | 62 |
He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
| בחוריו אכלה-אש ובתולתיו לא הוללו | 63 |
Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.
| כהניו בחרב נפלו ואלמנתיו לא תבכינה | 64 |
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.
| ויקץ כישן אדני כגבור מתרונן מיין | 65 |
Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
| ויך-צריו אחור חרפת עולם נתן למו | 66 |
He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
| וימאס באהל יוסף ובשבט אפרים לא בחר | 67 |
Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
| ויבחר את-שבט יהודה את-הר ציון אשר אהב | 68 |
But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
| ויבן כמו-רמים מקדשו כארץ יסדה לעולם | 69 |
He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.
| ויבחר בדוד עבדו ויקחהו ממכלאת צאן | 70 |
He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
| מאחר עלות הביאו לרעות ביעקב עמו ובישראל נחלתו | 71 |
from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.
| וירעם כתם לבבו ובתבונות כפיו ינחם | 72 |
So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
