Psalms 78

¹Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;

²I will open my mouth in parables;

³that we have heard and known

⁴We will not hide them from their children,

⁵For He established a testimony in Jacob

⁶that the coming generation would know them—

⁷that they should put their confidence in God,

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers,

⁹The archers of Ephraim

¹⁰They failed to keep God’s covenant

¹¹They forgot what He had done,

¹²He worked wonders before their fathers

¹³He split the sea and brought them through;

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day

¹⁵He split the rocks in the wilderness

¹⁶He brought streams from the stone

¹⁷But they continued to sin against Him,

¹⁸They willfully tested God

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,

²⁰When He struck the rock, water gushed out

²¹Therefore the LORD heard

²²because they did not believe God

²³Yet He commanded the clouds above

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat;

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels;

²⁶He stirred the east wind from the heavens

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust,

²⁸He felled them in the midst of their camp,

²⁹So they ate and were well filled,

³⁰Yet before they had filled their desire,

³¹God’s anger flared against them,

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;

³³So He ended their days in futility,78:33 Or in vapor

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him;

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock,

³⁶But they deceived Him with their mouths,

³⁷Their hearts were disloyal to Him,

³⁸And yet He was compassionate;

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,

⁴⁰How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness

⁴¹Again and again they tested God

⁴²They did not remember His power 78:42 Or His hand—

⁴³when He performed His signs in Egypt

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood,

⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper,

⁴⁷He killed their vines with hailstones

⁴⁸He abandoned their cattle to the hail

⁴⁹He unleashed His fury against them,

⁵⁰He cleared a path for His anger;

⁵¹He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,

⁵²He led out His people like sheep

⁵³He led them safely, so they did not fear,

⁵⁴He brought them to His holy land,

⁵⁵He drove out nations before them

⁵⁶But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,

⁵⁷They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,

⁵⁸They enraged Him with their high places

⁵⁹On hearing it, God was furious

⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,

⁶¹He delivered His strength to captivity,

⁶²He surrendered His people to the sword

⁶³Fire consumed His young men,

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword,

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

⁶⁶He beat back His foes;

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Joseph

⁶⁸But He chose the tribe of Judah,

⁶⁹He built His sanctuary like the heights,

⁷⁰He chose David His servant

⁷¹from tending the ewes He brought him

⁷²So David shepherded them with integrity of heart