Psalms 78

1 A psalm (maskil) of Asaph. Listen to what I have to teach you, my people; hear what I have to say.

An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings of my mouth;

2 I will tell you wise sayings; I will explain mysteries from the past

I will open, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; —

3 that we have heard before and reflected on; stories our forefathers passed down to us.

Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to us;

4 We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about God's marvelous actions—about his power and the amazing things he has done.

We will not withhold [them] from their children, To a later generation, recounting the praises of Yahweh, Even his might and his wonders which he wrought;

5 He gave his laws to the descendants of Jacob; his instructions to the people of Israel. He commanded our forefathers to teach them to their children,

When he set up a testimony in Jacob, And, a law, appointed in Israel, —Which he commanded our fathers, That they might make them known to their children;

6 so that the next generation—children yet to be born—would understand and grow up to teach their children.

To the end, A later generation, might come to know, Children who should be born, Who should arise, and recount [them] to their children;

7 In this way they should place their trust in God and not forget what God has done, and keep his commandments.

That they might set, in Elohim, their confidence, —And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;

8 Then they would not be like their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation that was untrustworthy and unfaithful.

And not become, like their fathers, a generation stubborn and rebellious, —A generation that fixed not their heart, Neither was their spirit, faithful with GOD.

9 The soldiers of Ephraim, though armed with bows, ran away on the day of battle.

The sons of Ephraim—armed bowmen, Turned in the day of battle;

10 They did not keep God's agreement, and refused to follow his laws.

They kept not the covenant of God, And, in his law, refused to walk;

11 They ignored what he had done, and the amazing things he had shown them—

And forgat His doings, And his wonders which he had showed them:

12 the miracles he had performed for their forefathers near Zoan in Egypt.

In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, —In the land of Egypt—the field of Zoan:

13 He split the sea in two and led them through, making the water stand like walls on either side.

He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;

14 He led them with a cloud by day, and by night with a light of fire.

And led them, by a cloud, in the daytime, And all the night, by a light of fire;

15 He split open rocks in the desert to give his people plenty to drink, water as deep as the ocean.

He used to cleave rocks in the desert, And let them drink as out of mighty deeps;

16 He made streams flow from the stone; water rushing down like rivers!

And he brought forth streams out of the cliff, And caused waters to flow down, like rivers.

17 But they repeatedly sinned against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

But again, once more sinned they against him, Resisting the Most High in a land of drought:

18 They deliberately provoked God by demanding the foods they longed for.

They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:

19 They insulted God by saying, “Can God provide food here in the desert?

Yea they spake against Elohim, —They said, Can GOD prepare a table in the desert?

20 Yes, he can strike a rock so that water gushes out like flowing rivers, but can he give us bread? Can he supply his people with meat?”

Lo! he hath smitten a rock, And waters, have gushed out, Yea, torrents, have rushed along, —Food also, can he give? Or provide flesh for his people?

21 When he heard this, the Lord became very angry, burning like fire against the descendants of Jacob, furious with the people of Israel,

Therefore, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, —And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted against Israel;

22 for they didn't believe in God and didn't trust him to take care of them.

Because, They believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;

23 Even so he commanded the skies above and the doors of heaven to open,

Though he had commanded the skies above, And, the doors of the heavens, had opened;

24 and he made manna rain down on them to eat, giving them bread from heaven.

And had rained on them manna to eat, And, the corn of the heavens, had given to them:

25 Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them more than enough food.

The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;

26 He sent the east wind blowing across the sky; by his power he drove the south wind.

He let loose an east wind in the heavens, Then guided he, in his might, a south wind;

27 He rained down meat on them as plentiful as dust; birds as numerous as sand on a beach.

And rained upon them flesh as the dust, And, like the sand of the seas, birds of wing;

28 He made them fall right in the middle of their camp, all around where they were living.

And let them fall in the midst of their camp, —Round about their habitations.

29 They ate until they were full. He gave them the food they longed for.

So they did eat and were abundantly filled, When, what they longed for, he had brought them: —

30 But before they satisfied their appetite, while the meat was still in their mouths,

They had not turned away from what they had longed for, Yet was their food in their mouth,

31 God became angry with them and he killed their strongest men, striking them down in the prime of life.

When, the anger of God, mounted against them, And he slew of their vigorous youths, And, the choice young men of Israel, caused he to bow down in death.

32 Despite all this they went right on sinning. Despite the miracles, they refused to trust him.

For all this, sinned they still, And believed not in his wonders;

33 So he snuffed out their futile lives, bringing them to an end in terror.

So he ended, in a breath, their days, And their years, in a sudden terror!

34 When he began killing them, the rest came back to God in repentance, praying to him.

If he slew [of] them, then they sought him, Yea they turned, and did earnestly seek GOD;

35 They remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their Savior.

And remembered that, Elohim, was their rock, Yea, EL Most High, their Redeemer:

36 They flattered him by what they told him, but they were only lying.

So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;

37 Deep down they were not sincere, and did not keep the agreement they had with him.

But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty in his covenant:

38 But being compassionate he pardoned their guilt and did not destroy all of them. He often held back his anger—he did not pour out all his fury.

Yet, he, full of compassion, would put a propitiatory-covering over iniquity, and not destroy, —Yea, many a time, turned he back his anger, And would not stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered their mortality—that they were like a puff of wind that would not return.

So then he remembered, That, Flesh, they were, A Wind departing, that returneth not.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, giving him grief in the desert!

How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:

41 Again and again they provoked God, causing pain to the Holy One of Israel.

Yea they again put GOD to the test, And, to the Holy One of Israel, caused they sorrow:

42 They did not remember his strength when he rescued them from their oppressors,

They remembered not his hand—The day, When he ransomed them from the adversary;

43 performing miracles in Egypt, doing wonderful things on the plain of Zoan.

When he set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;

44 There he turned their rivers and their streams into blood so that no one could drink from them.

When he turned, into blood, their Nile-streams, And, their own rivers, could they not drink;

45 He sent flies among them to destroy them, and frogs to ruin everything.

He sent among them, The gad-fly, and it devoured them, And the frog, and it despoiled them;

46 He gave their crops to locusts; everything they worked had for was taken by locusts.

When he gave to the corn-locust their produce, And their toil, to the swarming locust;

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their fig trees with freezing rain.

He killed, with hail, their vine, And their sycomores, with frost:

48 He handed over their cattle to hail and their flocks to lightning bolts.

When he gave up, to hail-storms, their beasts, And their cattle, to pestilent fevers;

49 He poured out on them his fierce anger—rage and hostility and anguish—sending a band of destroying angels against them.

He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, —A mission of messengers of misfortune:

50 He sent his unrestrained anger against them; he did not spare them from death, handing them over to the plague.

He leveled a path for his anger, Withheld not, from death, their soul, But, their life—to the pestilence, he delivered:

51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the first to be conceived in the tents of Ham.

So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, in the tents of Ham;

52 But he led out his people like sheep, and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;

53 He led them to safety, and they were not afraid. He drowned their enemies in the sea.

Yea he led them securely, and they dreaded not, And, their enemies, the sea did cover.

54 He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountainous land that he had conquered for them.

Then brought he them within his own holy bounds, The mountain-range, which his right hand made his own:

55 He drove out the heathen nations before them. He divided up the land for them to own. He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

So he drave out, before them, [whole] nations, And allotted them, by line, an inheritance, And caused to dwell, in their own homes, the tribes of Israel.

56 But they provoked God Most High, rebelling against him. They did not follow what he had told them.

But they tested and resisted God Most High, And, his testimonies, did not observe;

57 Just like their forefathers they turned away from God and were unfaithful to him, as twisted as a defective bow.

But drew back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers, They turned aside, like deceitful bowmen;

58 They made him angry with their pagan high places of worship; they made him jealous with their idols.

And provoked him to anger with their high places, And, with their images, used to move him to jealousy.

59 When God heard their worship he became furious and he totally rejected Israel.

God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 He abandoned his place at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he lived among the people.

So he gave up the habitation of Shiloh, The tent he had set up among Men;

61 He surrendered the Ark of his power, allowing it to be captured; handing it over into enemy hands.

Yea he gave up, into captivity, his strength, And his beauty into the hand of an adversary;

62 He handed over his people to be slaughtered by the sword; he was furious with his chosen people.

And delivered up, to the sword, his people, And, with his own inheritance, was he wroth;

63 Their young men were destroyed by fire; their young women had no wedding songs.

His young men, were devoured by fire, And, his virgins, were not praised in song;

64 Their priests were killed by the sword; their widows were unable to mourn.

His priests, by the sword, did fall, And, his widows, were not able to bewail.

65 Then the Lord woke up as if from sleep, as a warrior sobering up from drinking wine.

Then awoke, as one that had slept, Adonay, As a warrior exulting with wine!

66 He defeated his enemies, striking them on the back, causing them everlasting shame.

So he smote his adversaries in the rear, Reproach age-abiding, laid he upon them.

67 He rejected the descendants of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

Howbeit he rejected the tent of Joseph, And, the tribe of Ephraim, did not choose:

68 Instead he chose the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion which he loves.

But made choice of the tribe of Judah, The mountain of Zion, which he loved;

69 There he built his sanctuary, high like the heavens, on earth that he made to last forever.

And built, like the heights, his sanctuary, Like the earth, he founded it to times age-abiding.

70 He chose his servant David, taking him from the sheep pens,

And made choice of David his servant, And took him from among the folds of the sheep:

71 taking him from caring for the sheep and lambs to be a shepherd to the descendants of Jacob—God's special people, Israel.

From after the sucking ewes, he brought him in, —To be shepherd to Jacob his people, And to Israel, his inheritance.

72 Like a shepherd, he took care of them with sincere devotion, leading them with skillful hands.

So he did shepherd them, according to the singleness of his heart, And, with the discernment of his hands, used he to guide them.