Psalms 78
New International Version - Psalms 78 << | >> 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150 78:1 O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- 78:3 what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. 78:4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord , his power, and the wonders he has done. 78:5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, 78:6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 78:7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 78:8 They would not be like their forefathers- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. 78:9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 78:10 they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law. 78:11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. 78:12 He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 78:13 He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. 78:14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. 78:15 He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; 78:16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. 78:17 But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. 78:18 They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. 78:19 They spoke against God, saying, 'Can God spread a table in the desert? 78:20 When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?' 78:21 When the Lord heard them, he was very angry; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, 78:22 for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance. 78:23 Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; 78:24 he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. 78:25 Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. 78:26 He let loose the east wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power. 78:27 He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore. 78:28 He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents. 78:29 They ate till they had more than enough, for he had given them what they craved. 78:30 But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their mouths, 78:31 God's anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel. 78:32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe. 78:33 So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror. 78:34 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. 78:35 They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. 78:36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; 78:37 their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. 78:38 Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. 78:39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. 78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! 78:41 Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. 78:42 They did not remember his power- the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, 78:43 the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. 78:44 He turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams. 78:45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. 78:46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. 78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. 78:48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. 78:49 He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility- a band of destroying angels. 78:50 He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. 78:51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. 78:52 But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert. 78:53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. 78:54 Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. 78:55 He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. 78:56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 78:57 Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 78:58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 78:59 When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. 78:60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. 78:61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. 78:62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. 78:63 Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; 78:64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep. 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine. 78:66 He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. 78:67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; 78:68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. 78:69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever. 78:70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; 78:71 from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.