Psalms 78

78[A psalm

of Asaph.] O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,H4905H623H238H5971H8451H5186H241H561H63102for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—H6605H6310H4912H5042H2420H69243stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.H8085H3045H1H56084We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.H3582H1121H5608H1755H314H8416H3068H5807H6381H62135For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,H6965H5715H3290H7760H8451H3478H6680H1H3045H11216so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children.H1755H314H3045H1121H3205H6965H5608H11217So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.H7760H3689H430H7911H4611H410H5341H46878Then they will not be like their ancestors—stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.H1H5637H4784H1755H1755H3559H3820H3559H7307H539H4109The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.H1121H669H5401H7411H7198H2015H3117H712810They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.H8104H1285H430H3985H3212H845111They forgot what he had done—the great wonders he had shown them,H7911H5949H6381H720012the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.H6382H6213H5048H1H776H4714H7704H681413For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!H1234H3220H5674H4325H5324H506714In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.H3119H5148H6051H3915H216H78415He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.H1234H6697H4057H8248H7227H841516He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!H3318H5140H5553H4325H3381H510417Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.H2398H3254H4784H5945H672318They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.H5254H410H3824H7592H400H531519They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.H1696H430H559H3201H410H6186H7979H405720Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”H5221H6697H4325H2100H5158H7857H3201H5414H3899H3201H3559H7607H597121When the Lord heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,H3068H8085H5674H784H5400H3290H639H5927H347822for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.H539H430H982H344423But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.H6680H7834H4605H6605H1817H806424He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.H4305H4478H398H5414H1715H806425They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.H376H398H47H3899H7971H6720H764826He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.H6921H5265H8064H5797H5090H848627He rained down meat as thick as dust—birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!H4305H7607H6083H3671H5775H2344H322028He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.H5307H7130H4264H5439H490829The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.H398H3966H7646H935H837830But before they satisfied their craving, while the meat was yet in their mouths,H2114H8378H400H631031the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.H639H430H5927H2026H4924H3766H970H347832But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.H2398H539H638133So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.H3117H3615H1892H8141H92834When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.H2026H1875H7725H7836H41035Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High

was their redeemer.H2142H430H6697H5945H410H135036But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.H6601H6310H3576H395637Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.H3820H3559H539H128538Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury!H7349H3722H5771H7843H7235H7725H639H7725H5782H253439For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.H2142H1320H7307H1980H772540Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.H4100H4784H4057H6087H345241Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.H7725H5254H410H8428H6918H347842They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.H2142H3027H3117H6299H686243They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.H7760H226H4714H4159H7704H681444For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.H2015H2975H1818H5140H835445He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.H7971H6157H398H6854H784346He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.H5414H2981H2625H3018H69747He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.H2026H1612H1259H8256H260248He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.H5462H1165H1259H4735H756549He loosed on them his fierce anger—all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.H7971H2740H639H5678H2195H6869H4917H7451H439750He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.H6424H5410H639H2820H5315H4194H5462H2416H5462H169851He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt

.H5221H1060H4714H7225H202H168H252652But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.H5971H5265H6629H5090H4057H573953He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.H5148H983H6342H3220H3680H34154He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.H935H1366H6944H2022H3225H706955He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.H1644H1471H6440H5307H5159H2256H7626H3478H7931H16856But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.H5254H4784H5945H430H8104H571357They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.H5472H898H1H2015H7423H719858They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.H3707H1116H7065H645659When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.H430H8085H5674H3966H3988H347860Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.H5203H4908H7887H168H7931H12061He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.H5414H5797H7628H8597H6862H302762He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.H5462H5971H5462H2719H5674H515963Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.H784H398H970H1330H198464Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.H3548H5307H2719H490H105865Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.H136H3364H3463H1368H7442H319666He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.H5221H6862H268H5414H5769H278167But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.H3988H168H3130H977H7626H66968He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.H977H7626H3063H2022H6726H15769There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.H1129H4720H7311H776H3245H576970He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.H977H1732H5650H3947H4356H662971He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants—God’s own people, Israel.H310H5763H935H7462H3290H5971H3478H515972He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.H7462H8537H3824H5148H8394H3709