78:0 A Maskil of Asaph.
78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
78:3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.
78:5 He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children;
78:6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
78:7 so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
78:8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
78:9 The E'phraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
78:10 They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
78:11 They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them.
78:12 In the sight of their fathers he wrought marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zo'an.
78:13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.
78:14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.
78:15 He cleft rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
78:16 He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
78:17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
78:18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
78:19 They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
78:20 He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?"
78:21 Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel;
78:22 because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power.
78:23 Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;
78:24 and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.
78:25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
78:26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
78:27 he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
78:28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations.
78:29 And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
78:30 But before they had sated their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,
78:31 the anger of God rose against them and he slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel.
78:32 In spite of all this they still sinned; despite his wonders they did not believe.
78:33 So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.
78:34 When he slew them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
78:35 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
78:36 But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
78:37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant.
78:38 Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath.
78:39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
78:41 They tested him again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
78:42 They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
78:43 when he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zo'an.
78:44 He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
78:45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
78:46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.
78:48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.
78:49 He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
78:50 He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
78:51 He smote all the first-born in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
78:52 Then he led forth his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
78:53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
78:54 And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
78:55 He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
78:56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe his testimonies,
78:57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
78:58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
78:59 When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
78:60 He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among men,
78:61 and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.
78:62 He gave his people over to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage.
78:63 Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage song.
78:64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
78:65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
78:66 And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of E'phraim;
78:68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
78:69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded for ever.
78:70 He chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
78:71 from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance.
78:72 With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skilful hand.
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