< תהילים 78 >

משכיל לאסף האזינה עמי תורתי הטו אזנכם לאמרי פי׃ 1
An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings of my mouth;
אפתחה במשל פי אביעה חידות מני קדם׃ 2
I will open, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; —
אשר שמענו ונדעם ואבותינו ספרו לנו׃ 3
Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to us;
לא נכחד מבניהם לדור אחרון מספרים תהלות יהוה ועזוזו ונפלאותיו אשר עשה׃ 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;
ויקם עדות ביעקב ותורה שם בישראל אשר צוה את אבותינו להודיעם לבניהם׃ 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;
למען ידעו דור אחרון בנים יולדו יקמו ויספרו לבניהם׃ 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;
וישימו באלהים כסלם ולא ישכחו מעללי אל ומצותיו ינצרו׃ 7
That they might set, in Elohim, their confidence, —And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;
ולא יהיו כאבותם דור סורר ומרה דור לא הכין לבו ולא נאמנה את אל רוחו׃ 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.
בני אפרים נושקי רומי קשת הפכו ביום קרב׃ 9
The sons of Ephraim—armed bowmen, Turned in the day of battle;
לא שמרו ברית אלהים ובתורתו מאנו ללכת׃ 10
They kept not the covenant of God, And, in his law, refused to walk;
וישכחו עלילותיו ונפלאותיו אשר הראם׃ 11
And forgat His doings, And his wonders which he had showed them:
נגד אבותם עשה פלא בארץ מצרים שדה צען׃ 12
In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, —In the land of Egypt—the field of Zoan:
בקע ים ויעבירם ויצב מים כמו נד׃ 13
He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;
וינחם בענן יומם וכל הלילה באור אש׃ 14
And led them, by a cloud, in the daytime, And all the night, by a light of fire;
יבקע צרים במדבר וישק כתהמות רבה׃ 15
He used to cleave rocks in the desert, And let them drink as out of mighty deeps;
ויוצא נוזלים מסלע ויורד כנהרות מים׃ 16
And he brought forth streams out of the cliff, And caused waters to flow down, like rivers.
ויוסיפו עוד לחטא לו למרות עליון בציה׃ 17
But again, once more sinned they against him, Resisting the Most High in a land of drought:
וינסו אל בלבבם לשאל אכל לנפשם׃ 18
They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:
וידברו באלהים אמרו היוכל אל לערך שלחן במדבר׃ 19
Yea they spake against Elohim, —They said, Can GOD prepare a table in the desert?
הן הכה צור ויזובו מים ונחלים ישטפו הגם לחם יוכל תת אם יכין שאר לעמו׃ 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?
לכן שמע יהוה ויתעבר ואש נשקה ביעקב וגם אף עלה בישראל׃ 21
Therefore, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, —And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted against Israel;
כי לא האמינו באלהים ולא בטחו בישועתו׃ 22
Because, They believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;
ויצו שחקים ממעל ודלתי שמים פתח׃ 23
Though he had commanded the skies above, And, the doors of the heavens, had opened;
וימטר עליהם מן לאכל ודגן שמים נתן למו׃ 24
And had rained on them manna to eat, And, the corn of the heavens, had given to them:
לחם אבירים אכל איש צידה שלח להם לשבע׃ 25
The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;
יסע קדים בשמים וינהג בעזו תימן׃ 26
He let loose an east wind in the heavens, Then guided he, in his might, a south wind;
וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר וכחול ימים עוף כנף׃ 27
And rained upon them flesh as the dust, And, like the sand of the seas, birds of wing;
ויפל בקרב מחנהו סביב למשכנתיו׃ 28
And let them fall in the midst of their camp, —Round about their habitations.
ויאכלו וישבעו מאד ותאותם יבא להם׃ 29
So they did eat and were abundantly filled, When, what they longed for, he had brought them: —
לא זרו מתאותם עוד אכלם בפיהם׃ 30
They had not turned away from what they had longed for, Yet was their food in their mouth,
ואף אלהים עלה בהם ויהרג במשמניהם ובחורי ישראל הכריע׃ 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.
בכל זאת חטאו עוד ולא האמינו בנפלאותיו׃ 32
For all this, sinned they still, And believed not in his wonders;
ויכל בהבל ימיהם ושנותם בבהלה׃ 33
So he ended, in a breath, their days, And their years, in a sudden terror!
אם הרגם ודרשוהו ושבו ושחרו אל׃ 34
If he slew [of] them, then they sought him, Yea they turned, and did earnestly seek GOD;
ויזכרו כי אלהים צורם ואל עליון גאלם׃ 35
And remembered that, Elohim, was their rock, Yea, EL Most High, their Redeemer:
ויפתוהו בפיהם ובלשונם יכזבו לו׃ 36
So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;
ולבם לא נכון עמו ולא נאמנו בבריתו׃ 37
But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty in his covenant:
והוא רחום יכפר עון ולא ישחית והרבה להשיב אפו ולא יעיר כל חמתו׃ 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.
ויזכר כי בשר המה רוח הולך ולא ישוב׃ 39
So then he remembered, That, Flesh, they were, A Wind departing, that returneth not.
כמה ימרוהו במדבר יעציבוהו בישימון׃ 40
How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:
וישובו וינסו אל וקדוש ישראל התוו׃ 41
Yea they again put GOD to the test, And, to the Holy One of Israel, caused they sorrow:
לא זכרו את ידו יום אשר פדם מני צר׃ 42
They remembered not his hand—The day, When he ransomed them from the adversary;
אשר שם במצרים אתותיו ומופתיו בשדה צען׃ 43
When he set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;
ויהפך לדם יאריהם ונזליהם בל ישתיון׃ 44
When he turned, into blood, their Nile-streams, And, their own rivers, could they not drink;
ישלח בהם ערב ויאכלם וצפרדע ותשחיתם׃ 45
He sent among them, The gad-fly, and it devoured them, And the frog, and it despoiled them;
ויתן לחסיל יבולם ויגיעם לארבה׃ 46
When he gave to the corn-locust their produce, And their toil, to the swarming locust;
יהרג בברד גפנם ושקמותם בחנמל׃ 47
He killed, with hail, their vine, And their sycomores, with frost:
ויסגר לברד בעירם ומקניהם לרשפים׃ 48
When he gave up, to hail-storms, their beasts, And their cattle, to pestilent fevers;
ישלח בם חרון אפו עברה וזעם וצרה משלחת מלאכי רעים׃ 49
He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, —A mission of messengers of misfortune:
יפלס נתיב לאפו לא חשך ממות נפשם וחיתם לדבר הסגיר׃ 50
He leveled a path for his anger, Withheld not, from death, their soul, But, their life—to the pestilence, he delivered:
ויך כל בכור במצרים ראשית אונים באהלי חם׃ 51
So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, in the tents of Ham;
ויסע כצאן עמו וינהגם כעדר במדבר׃ 52
And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;
וינחם לבטח ולא פחדו ואת אויביהם כסה הים׃ 53
Yea he led them securely, and they dreaded not, And, their enemies, the sea did cover.
ויביאם אל גבול קדשו הר זה קנתה ימינו׃ 54
Then brought he them within his own holy bounds, The mountain-range, which his right hand made his own:
ויגרש מפניהם גוים ויפילם בחבל נחלה וישכן באהליהם שבטי ישראל׃ 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.
וינסו וימרו את אלהים עליון ועדותיו לא שמרו׃ 56
But they tested and resisted God Most High, And, his testimonies, did not observe;
ויסגו ויבגדו כאבותם נהפכו כקשת רמיה׃ 57
But drew back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers, They turned aside, like deceitful bowmen;
ויכעיסוהו בבמותם ובפסיליהם יקניאוהו׃ 58
And provoked him to anger with their high places, And, with their images, used to move him to jealousy.
שמע אלהים ויתעבר וימאס מאד בישראל׃ 59
God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;
ויטש משכן שלו אהל שכן באדם׃ 60
So he gave up the habitation of Shiloh, The tent he had set up among Men;
ויתן לשבי עזו ותפארתו ביד צר׃ 61
Yea he gave up, into captivity, his strength, And his beauty into the hand of an adversary;
ויסגר לחרב עמו ובנחלתו התעבר׃ 62
And delivered up, to the sword, his people, And, with his own inheritance, was he wroth;
בחוריו אכלה אש ובתולתיו לא הוללו׃ 63
His young men, were devoured by fire, And, his virgins, were not praised in song;
כהניו בחרב נפלו ואלמנתיו לא תבכינה׃ 64
His priests, by the sword, did fall, And, his widows, were not able to bewail.
ויקץ כישן אדני כגבור מתרונן מיין׃ 65
Then awoke, as one that had slept, Adonay, As a warrior exulting with wine!
ויך צריו אחור חרפת עולם נתן למו׃ 66
So he smote his adversaries in the rear, Reproach age-abiding, laid he upon them.
וימאס באהל יוסף ובשבט אפרים לא בחר׃ 67
Howbeit he rejected the tent of Joseph, And, the tribe of Ephraim, did not choose:
ויבחר את שבט יהודה את הר ציון אשר אהב׃ 68
But made choice of the tribe of Judah, The mountain of Zion, which he loved;
ויבן כמו רמים מקדשו כארץ יסדה לעולם׃ 69
And built, like the heights, his sanctuary, Like the earth, he founded it to times age-abiding.
ויבחר בדוד עבדו ויקחהו ממכלאת צאן׃ 70
And made choice of David his servant, And took him from among the folds of the sheep:
מאחר עלות הביאו לרעות ביעקב עמו ובישראל נחלתו׃ 71
From after the sucking ewes, he brought him in, —To be shepherd to Jacob his people, And to Israel, his inheritance.
וירעם כתם לבבו ובתבונות כפיו ינחם׃ 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.

< תהילים 78 >