Psalms 78
1 An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Give ear, O my people, to mine instruction, Bend your ear to the sayings of my mouth;
A maskil of Asaph. My people, attend to my teaching: bend your ears to the words of my mouth,
2 I will open, in a parable, my mouth, I will pour forth enigmas out of antiquity; —
as I open my mouth in a poem on the riddling story of the past.
3 Which we have heard, and come to know, And, our fathers, have recounted to us;
What we have heard and known, and what our ancestors have told us,
4 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;
we will not hide from their children. We will tell to the next generation the praises and might of the Lord, and the wonders that he has done.
5 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;
He set up a testimony in Jacob, a law he appointed in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to make known to their children,
6 To the end, A later generation, might come to know, Children who should be born, Who should arise, and recount [them] to their children;
that the next generation should know it, that the children yet to be born should arise and tell their children;
7 That they might set, in Elohim, their confidence, —And not forget the doings of El, But, his commandments, might observe;
that in God they might put their confidence, and not forget God’s works; but that they might keep his commandments,
8 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.
and not be like their ancestors, a generation defiant and stubborn, a generation with heart unsteady, and spirit unfaithful towards God.
9 The sons of Ephraim—armed bowmen, Turned in the day of battle;
Ephraimites, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, And, in his law, refused to walk;
They did not keep God’s covenant, they refused to walk in his law.
11 And forgat His doings, And his wonders which he had showed them:
They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.
12 In presence of their fathers, wrought he, wondrously, —In the land of Egypt—the field of Zoan:
He did wonders before their ancestors in the country of Zoan in Egypt.
13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through, And reared up the waters like a mound;
Through the sea which he split he brought them, making waters stand up like a heap;
14 And led them, by a cloud, in the daytime, And all the night, by a light of fire;
he led them by day with a cloud, all the night with a light of fire.
15 He used to cleave rocks in the desert, And let them drink as out of mighty deeps;
From the rocks which he split in the wilderness, he gave them to drink as of ocean’s abundance.
16 And he brought forth streams out of the cliff, And caused waters to flow down, like rivers.
He brought streams out of the rock, and made water run down like rivers.
17 But again, once more sinned they against him, Resisting the Most High in a land of drought:
Yet they still went on sinning against him, they defied the Most High in the desert.
18 They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:
They wilfully challenged God, demanding the food that they longed for.
19 Yea they spake against Elohim, —They said, Can GOD prepare a table in the desert?
‘Is God able,’ such was their challenge, ‘to spread in the desert a table?
20 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?
From the rock that he struck there gushed water, and torrents that overflowed; but can he also give bread, or provide his people with meat?’
21 Therefore, Yahweh hearkened, and became wroth, —And, a fire, was kindled against Jacob, Moreover also, anger, mounted against Israel;
When the Lord heard this, he was furious, and fire was kindled on Jacob, anger flared up against Israel.
22 Because, They believed not in God, Nor trusted in his salvation;
For they put no trust in God, no confidence in his help.
23 Though he had commanded the skies above, And, the doors of the heavens, had opened;
So he summoned the clouds above; and, opening the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained on them manna to eat, And, the corn of the heavens, had given to them:
he rained manna upon them for food, and grain of heaven he gave them.
25 The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;
Everyone ate the bread of angels; he sent them food to the full.
26 He let loose an east wind in the heavens, Then guided he, in his might, a south wind;
He launched the east wind in the heavens, and guided the south by his power.
27 And rained upon them flesh as the dust, And, like the sand of the seas, birds of wing;
He rained meat upon them like dust, winged bird like the sand of the sea.
28 And let them fall in the midst of their camp, —Round about their habitations.
In the midst of their camp he dropped it, all around their tents.
29 So they did eat and were abundantly filled, When, what they longed for, he had brought them: —
They ate and were more than filled; he had brought them the thing they desired.
30 They had not turned away from what they had longed for, Yet was their food in their mouth,
But the thing they desired became loathsome: while their food was still in their mouths,
31 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.
the wrath of God rose against them. He slew the stoutest among them, and laid low the young men of Israel.
32 For all this, sinned they still, And believed not in his wonders;
Yet for all this they sinned yet more, and refused to believe in his wonders.
33 So he ended, in a breath, their days, And their years, in a sudden terror!
So he ended their days in a breath, and their years in sudden dismay.
34 If he slew [of] them, then they sought him, Yea they turned, and did earnestly seek GOD;
When he slew them, then they sought after him, they turned and sought God with diligence.
35 And remembered that, Elohim, was their rock, Yea, EL Most High, their Redeemer:
They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
37 But, their heart, was not fixed with him, Nor were they trusty in his covenant:
Their heart was not steady with him, they were faithless to his covenant.
38 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.
But he is full of pity: he pardons sin and destroys not. Often he turns his anger away, without stirring his wrath at all.
39 So then he remembered, That, Flesh, they were, A Wind departing, that returneth not.
So he remembered that they were but flesh, breath that passes and does not return.
40 How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:
But how often they rebelled in the desert, and caused him grief in the wilderness,
41 Yea they again put GOD to the test, And, to the Holy One of Israel, caused they sorrow:
tempting God again and again, provoking the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand—The day, When he ransomed them from the adversary;
They did not remember his strength, nor the day he redeemed from the foe,
43 When he set, in Egypt, his signs, And his wonders, in the plain of Zoan;
how he set his signs in Egypt, in the country of Zoan his wonders.
44 When he turned, into blood, their Nile-streams, And, their own rivers, could they not drink;
He turned their canals into blood, their streams undrinkable.
45 He sent among them, The gad-fly, and it devoured them, And the frog, and it despoiled them;
He sent forth flies, which devoured them; frogs, too, which destroyed them.
46 When he gave to the corn-locust their produce, And their toil, to the swarming locust;
Their crops he gave to the caterpillar, and the fruits of their toil to the locust.
47 He killed, with hail, their vine, And their sycomores, with frost:
He slew their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
48 When he gave up, to hail-storms, their beasts, And their cattle, to pestilent fevers;
He delivered their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
49 He sent among them the heat of his anger, Wrath and indignation and distress, —A mission of messengers of misfortune:
He let loose his hot anger among them, fury and wrath and distress, a band of destroying angels.
50 He leveled a path for his anger, Withheld not, from death, their soul, But, their life—to the pestilence, he delivered:
He cleared a path for his anger, did not spare them from death, but gave them over to pestilence.
51 So he smote, Every first-born in Egypt, The beginning of their strength, in the tents of Ham;
He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 And he set forth, like sheep, his people, And guided them, like a flock in the desert;
He led forth his people like sheep, he was guide to his flock in the desert.
53 Yea he led them securely, and they dreaded not, And, their enemies, the sea did cover.
Securely he led them, and free from fear, while their foes were drowned in the sea.
54 Then brought he them within his own holy bounds, The mountain-range, which his right hand made his own:
To his holy realm he brought them, to the mountain his right hand had purchased.
55 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.
He drove out the nations before them, and allotted their land for possession, and their tents for Israel to live in.
56 But they tested and resisted God Most High, And, his testimonies, did not observe;
Yet they tempted and angered the Most High God, they did not observe his decrees.
57 But drew back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers, They turned aside, like deceitful bowmen;
They drew back, false like their ancestors; they failed like a treacherous bow.
58 And provoked him to anger with their high places, And, with their images, used to move him to jealousy.
Their shrines stirred him to anger, their idols moved him to jealousy.
59 God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;
When God heard of this, he was furious, and he spurned Israel utterly.
60 So he gave up the habitation of Shiloh, The tent he had set up among Men;
He abandoned his home in Shiloh, the tent he had pitched among people.
61 Yea he gave up, into captivity, his strength, And his beauty into the hand of an adversary;
He gave his strength up to captivity, his glory to the hands of the foe.
62 And delivered up, to the sword, his people, And, with his own inheritance, was he wroth;
He gave his people to the sword, he was furious with his own.
63 His young men, were devoured by fire, And, his virgins, were not praised in song;
Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage-song.
64 His priests, by the sword, did fall, And, his widows, were not able to bewail.
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.
65 Then awoke, as one that had slept, Adonay, As a warrior exulting with wine!
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior flushed with wine;
66 So he smote his adversaries in the rear, Reproach age-abiding, laid he upon them.
and he beat back his foes, putting them to perpetual scorn.
67 Howbeit he rejected the tent of Joseph, And, the tribe of Ephraim, did not choose:
He disowned the tent of Joseph, he rejected the tribe of Ephraim;
68 But made choice of the tribe of Judah, The mountain of Zion, which he loved;
but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 And built, like the heights, his sanctuary, Like the earth, he founded it to times age-abiding.
And he built like the heights his sanctuary, like the earth which he founded forever.
70 And made choice of David his servant, And took him from among the folds of the sheep:
And he chose David his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds.
71 From after the sucking ewes, he brought him in, —To be shepherd to Jacob his people, And to Israel, his inheritance.
From the mother-ewes he brought him, to be shepherd to Jacob his people, and to Israel his inheritance.
72 So he did shepherd them, according to the singleness of his heart, And, with the discernment of his hands, used he to guide them.
With upright heart did he shepherd them, and with skilful hands did he guide them.
