תהילים 78
| משכיל לאסף האזינה עמי תורתי הטו אזנכם לאמרי פי׃ | 1 |
A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.
| אפתחה במשל פי אביעה חידות מני קדם׃ | 2 |
I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
| אשר שמענו ונדעם ואבותינו ספרו לנו׃ | 3 |
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
| לא נכחד מבניהם לדור אחרון מספרים תהלות יהוה ועזוזו ונפלאותיו אשר עשה׃ | 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.
| ויקם עדות ביעקב ותורה שם בישראל אשר צוה את אבותינו להודיעם לבניהם׃ | 5 |
For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
| למען ידעו דור אחרון בנים יולדו יקמו ויספרו לבניהם׃ | 6 |
that the coming generation would know them— even children yet to be born— to arise and tell their own children
| וישימו באלהים כסלם ולא ישכחו מעללי אל ומצותיו ינצרו׃ | 7 |
that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.
| ולא יהיו כאבותם דור סורר ומרה דור לא הכין לבו ולא נאמנה את אל רוחו׃ | 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.
| בני אפרים נושקי רומי קשת הפכו ביום קרב׃ | 9 |
The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.
| לא שמרו ברית אלהים ובתורתו מאנו ללכת׃ | 10 |
They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.
| וישכחו עלילותיו ונפלאותיו אשר הראם׃ | 11 |
They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.
| נגד אבותם עשה פלא בארץ מצרים שדה צען׃ | 12 |
He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
| בקע ים ויעבירם ויצב מים כמו נד׃ | 13 |
He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
| וינחם בענן יומם וכל הלילה באור אש׃ | 14 |
He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
| יבקע צרים במדבר וישק כתהמות רבה׃ | 15 |
He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
| ויוצא נוזלים מסלע ויורד כנהרות מים׃ | 16 |
He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
| ויוסיפו עוד לחטא לו למרות עליון בציה׃ | 17 |
But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
| וינסו אל בלבבם לשאל אכל לנפשם׃ | 18 |
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
| וידברו באלהים אמרו היוכל אל לערך שלחן במדבר׃ | 19 |
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
| הן הכה צור ויזובו מים ונחלים ישטפו הגם לחם יוכל תת אם יכין שאר לעמו׃ | 20 |
When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”
| לכן שמע יהוה ויתעבר ואש נשקה ביעקב וגם אף עלה בישראל׃ | 21 |
Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,
| כי לא האמינו באלהים ולא בטחו בישועתו׃ | 22 |
because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.
| ויצו שחקים ממעל ודלתי שמים פתח׃ | 23 |
Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
| וימטר עליהם מן לאכל ודגן שמים נתן למו׃ | 24 |
He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.
| לחם אבירים אכל איש צידה שלח להם לשבע׃ | 25 |
Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.
| יסע קדים בשמים וינהג בעזו תימן׃ | 26 |
He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.
| וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר וכחול ימים עוף כנף׃ | 27 |
He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
| ויפל בקרב מחנהו סביב למשכנתיו׃ | 28 |
He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
| ויאכלו וישבעו מאד ותאותם יבא להם׃ | 29 |
So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.
| לא זרו מתאותם עוד אכלם בפיהם׃ | 30 |
Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,
| ואף אלהים עלה בהם ויהרג במשמניהם ובחורי ישראל הכריע׃ | 31 |
God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.
| בכל זאת חטאו עוד ולא האמינו בנפלאותיו׃ | 32 |
In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.
| ויכל בהבל ימיהם ושנותם בבהלה׃ | 33 |
So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.
| אם הרגם ודרשוהו ושבו ושחרו אל׃ | 34 |
When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
| ויזכרו כי אלהים צורם ואל עליון גאלם׃ | 35 |
And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
| ויפתוהו בפיהם ובלשונם יכזבו לו׃ | 36 |
But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.
| ולבם לא נכון עמו ולא נאמנו בבריתו׃ | 37 |
Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.
| והוא רחום יכפר עון ולא ישחית והרבה להשיב אפו ולא יעיר כל חמתו׃ | 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.
| ויזכר כי בשר המה רוח הולך ולא ישוב׃ | 39 |
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
| כמה ימרוהו במדבר יעציבוהו בישימון׃ | 40 |
How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
| וישובו וינסו אל וקדוש ישראל התוו׃ | 41 |
Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
| לא זכרו את ידו יום אשר פדם מני צר׃ | 42 |
They did not remember His power — the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
| אשר שם במצרים אתותיו ומופתיו בשדה צען׃ | 43 |
when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.
| ויהפך לדם יאריהם ונזליהם בל ישתיון׃ | 44 |
He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink.
| ישלח בהם ערב ויאכלם וצפרדע ותשחיתם׃ | 45 |
He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.
| ויתן לחסיל יבולם ויגיעם לארבה׃ | 46 |
He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.
| יהרג בברד גפנם ושקמותם בחנמל׃ | 47 |
He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
| ויסגר לברד בעירם ומקניהם לרשפים׃ | 48 |
He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.
| ישלח בם חרון אפו עברה וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים׃ | 49 |
He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity— a band of destroying angels.
| יפלס נתיב לאפו לא חשך ממות נפשם וחיתם לדבר הסגיר׃ | 50 |
He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.
| ויך כל בכור במצרים ראשית אונים באהלי חם׃ | 51 |
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.
| ויסע כצאן עמו וינהגם כעדר במדבר׃ | 52 |
He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
| וינחם לבטח ולא פחדו ואת אויביהם כסה הים׃ | 53 |
He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.
| ויביאם אל גבול קדשו הר זה קנתה ימינו׃ | 54 |
He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired.
| ויגרש מפניהם גוים ויפילם בחבל נחלה וישכן באהליהם שבטי ישראל׃ | 55 |
He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
| וינסו וימרו את אלהים עליון ועדותיו לא שמרו׃ | 56 |
But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.
| ויסגו ויבגדו כאבותם נהפכו כקשת רמיה׃ | 57 |
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
| ויכעיסוהו בבמותם ובפסיליהם יקניאוהו׃ | 58 |
They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
| שמע אלהים ויתעבר וימאס מאד בישראל׃ | 59 |
On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.
| ויטש משכן שלו אהל שכן באדם׃ | 60 |
He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.
| ויתן לשבי עזו ותפארתו ביד צר׃ | 61 |
He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.
| ויסגר לחרב עמו ובנחלתו התעבר׃ | 62 |
He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage.
| בחוריו אכלה אש ובתולתיו לא הוללו׃ | 63 |
Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.
| כהניו בחרב נפלו ואלמנתיו לא תבכינה׃ | 64 |
His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
| ויקץ כישן אדני כגבור מתרונן מיין׃ | 65 |
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
| ויך צריו אחור חרפת עולם נתן למו׃ | 66 |
He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.
| וימאס באהל יוסף ובשבט אפרים לא בחר׃ | 67 |
He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused 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 loved.
| ויבן כמו רמים מקדשו כארץ יסדה לעולם׃ | 69 |
He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.
| ויבחר בדוד עבדו ויקחהו ממכלאת צאן׃ | 70 |
He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
| מאחר עלות הביאו לרעות ביעקב עמו ובישראל נחלתו׃ | 71 |
from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance.
| וירעם כתם לבבו ובתבונות כפיו ינחם׃ | 72 |
So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.
