78:1 [A ①Maskil of Asaph.]
Listen, my people, to my ②instruction;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
▷ ①Possibly, Contemplative; or Didactic; or Skillful Psalm ②Or law, teaching
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will tell riddles of old,
78:3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not conceal them from their children,
But we will tell the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His power and His wondrous works that He has done.
78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they were to ①teach them to their children,
▷ ①Lit make them known
78:6 So that the generation to come would know, the children yet to be born,
That they would arise and tell them to their children,
78:7 So that they would put their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But comply with His commandments,
78:8 And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not ①prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
▷ ①Or put right
78:9 The sons of Ephraim ①were archers equipped with bows,
Yet they turned back on the day of battle.
▷ ①Or being
78:10 They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk in His Law;
78:11 They forgot His deeds
And His ①miracles that He had shown them.
▷ ①Or wonderful works
78:12 He performed wonders before their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
78:13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
78:14 Then He led them with the cloud by day
And all the night with a light of fire.
78:15 He split the rocks in the wilderness
And gave them plenty to drink like the ocean depths.
78:16 He brought forth streams from the rock
And made waters run down like rivers.
78:17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
78:18 And in their heart they put God to the test
By asking for food ①that suited their taste.
▷ ①Lit to their soul
78:19 Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
78:20 Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He also provide bread?
Will He prepare meat for His people?”
78:21 Therefore the LORD heard and ①was full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also mounted against Israel,
▷ ①Or became infuriated
78:22 Because they did not believe in God
And did not trust in His salvation.
78:23 Yet He commanded the clouds above
And opened the doors of heaven;
78:24 He rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them ①food from heaven.
▷ ①Lit grain
78:25 Man ate the bread of ①angels;
He sent them ②food ③in abundance.
▷ ①Lit mighty ones ②Or provision ③Lit to satiation
78:26 He made the east wind blow in the sky
And by His ①power He directed the south wind.
▷ ①Or strength
78:27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust,
Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
78:28 He let them fall in the midst of ①their camp,
All around their dwellings.
▷ ①Lit His
78:29 So they ate and were well filled,
And He ①satisfied their longing.
▷ ①Lit brought to them their
78:30 ①Yet before they had abandoned their longing,
While their food was in their mouths,
▷ ①Lit They did not turn away from their
78:31 The anger of God rose against them
And killed ①some of their strongest ones,
And ②subdued the choice men of Israel.
▷ ①Lit among their fat ones ②Lit caused to bow down
78:32 In spite of all this they still sinned
And did not believe in His wonderful works.
78:33 So He brought their days to an end in futility,
And their years to an end in sudden terror.
78:34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,
And they returned and searched diligently for God;
78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
78:36 But they flattered Him with their mouth
And lied to Him with their tongue.
78:37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful with His covenant.
78:38 But He, being compassionate, ①forgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them;
And often He ②restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.
▷ ①Lit covered over, atoned for ②Lit turned away
78:39 So He remembered that they were only flesh,
A ①wind that passes and does not return.
▷ ①Or breath
78:40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the desert!
78:41 Again and again they ①tempted God,
And pained the Holy One of Israel.
▷ ①Or put God to the test
78:42 They did not remember His ①power,
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
▷ ①Lit hand
78:43 When He performed His signs in Egypt
And His marvels in the field of Zoan,
78:44 And turned their rivers to blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
78:45 He sent swarms of flies among them that devoured them,
And frogs that destroyed them.
78:46 He also gave their crops to the grasshopper
And the product of their labor to the locust.
78:47 He ①destroyed their vines with hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
▷ ①Lit was killing
78:48 He also turned their cattle over to the hailstones,
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
78:49 He sent His burning anger upon them,
Fury and indignation and trouble,
A band of ①destroying angels.
▷ ①Lit angels of evil ones; another reading is evil angels
78:50 He leveled a path for His anger;
He did not spare their souls from death,
But turned their lives over to the plague,
78:51 And struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first and best of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
78:52 But He led His own people out like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
78:53 He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies.
78:54 So He brought them to His holy ①land,
To this ②hill country which His right hand had gained.
▷ ①Lit border, territory ②Or mountain
78:55 He also drove out the nations from them
And apportioned them as an inheritance by measurement,
And had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
78:56 Yet they ①tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
▷ ①Or put to the test
78:57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers;
They turned aside like a treacherous bow.
78:58 For they provoked Him with their high places
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
78:59 When God heard them, He ①was filled with wrath
And He utterly rejected Israel;
▷ ①Or became infuriated
78:60 So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent ①which He had pitched among people,
▷ ①Some ancient versions where He dwelt
78:61 And He gave up His strength to captivity
And His glory into the hand of the enemy.
78:62 He also turned His people over to the sword,
And ①was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
▷ ①Or became infuriated
78:63 Fire devoured ①His young men,
And ②His virgins had no wedding songs.
▷ ①Or their ②Or their
78:64 ①His priests fell by the sword,
And ②His widows could not weep.
▷ ①Or their ②Or their
78:65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,
Like a warrior ①overcome by wine.
▷ ①Or sobered up from
78:66 He ①drove His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting disgrace.
▷ ①Lit struck
78:67 He also rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.
78:69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
78:70 He also chose His servant David
And took him from the sheepfolds;
78:71 From ①the care of the ②ewes with nursing lambs He brought him
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
▷ ①Lit following ②Lit ewes that wet-nurse, He
78:72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.