Psalms 78

1 A maschil of Asaph. Hear my teaching, my people, listen to the words of my mouth.

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 open my mouth in parables; I will sing about hidden things about the past.

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

3 These are things that we have heard and learned, things that our ancestors have told us.

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

4 We will not keep them from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the praiseworthy deeds of Yahweh, his strength, and the wonders that 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 For he established covenant decrees in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel. He commanded our ancestors that they were 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 He commanded this so that the generation to come might know his decrees, the children not yet born, who should tell them in turn to their own 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 Then they would place their hope in God and not forget his deeds but 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 ancestors, who were a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose hearts were not right, and whose spirits were not committed and faithful to God.

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 Ephraimites were armed with bows, but they turned back on the day of battle.

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

10 They did not keep the covenant with God, and they refused to obey his law.

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

11 They forgot his deeds, the wonderful things that he had shown them.

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

12 They forgot the marvelous things he did in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the land of Zoan.

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

13 He divided the sea and led them across it; he made the waters to stand like walls.

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

14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud and all the night with the light of fire.

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

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness, and he gave them water abundantly, enough to fill the depths of the sea.

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

16 He made streams flow out of the rock and made the water flow like rivers.

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

17 Yet they continued to sin against him, rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

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

18 They challenged God in their hearts by asking for food to satisfy their appetites.

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

19 They spoke against God; they said, “Can God really lay out a table for us in the wilderness?

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

20 See, when he struck the rock, waters gushed out and streams overflowed. But can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”

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 Yahweh heard this, he was angry; so his fire burned against Jacob, and his anger attacked Israel,

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

22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation.

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

23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of the sky.

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

24 He rained down manna for them to eat, and gave them the grain from heaven.

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

25 People ate the bread of angels. He sent them food in abundance.

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

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky, and by his power he guided 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 like dust, birds as numerous as the sands of the sea.

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

28 They fell in the middle of their camp, all around their tents.

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

29 So they ate and were full. He gave them what they craved.

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

30 But they had not yet filled up; their food was still in their mouths.

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

31 Then God's anger attacked them and killed the strongest of them. He brought down the young men of Israel.

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 this, they continued to sin and did not believe his wonderful deeds.

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

33 Therefore God cut short their days; their years were filled with terror.

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

34 Whenever God afflicted them, they would start to seek him, and they would return and look earnestly for him.

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

35 They would call to mind that God was their rock and that the Most High God was their rescuer.

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

36 But they would flatter him with their mouth and lie to him with their words.

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

37 For their hearts were not firmly fixed on him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.

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

38 Yet he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many times he held back his anger and did not stir up all his wrath.

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 called to mind that they were made of flesh, a wind that passes away and does 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 and grieved him in the barren regions!

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

41 Again and again they challenged God and offended 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 think about his power, how he had rescued them from the enemy

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

43 when he performed his terrifying signs in Egypt and his wonders in the region of Zoan.

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

44 He turned the Egyptians' rivers to blood so that they could not drink from their streams.

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

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them and frogs that overran their land.

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

46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper and their labor to the locust.

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 sycamore trees with more hail.

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

48 He rained hail on their cattle and hurled lightning bolts at their livestock.

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

49 The fierceness of his anger lashed out against them. He sent wrath, fury, and trouble like agents who bring disaster.

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

50 He leveled a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave 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 killed all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of their strength in the tents of Ham.

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

52 He led his own people out like sheep and guided them through the wilderness like a flock.

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

53 He led them secure and unafraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

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

54 Then he brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountain that his right hand acquired.

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

55 He drove out the nations from before them and assigned them their inheritance. 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 Yet they challenged and defied the Most High God and did not keep his solemn commands.

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

57 They were unfaithful and acted treacherously like their fathers; they were as undependable as a faulty bow.

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

58 For they made him angry with their high places and provoked him to jealous anger 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 this, he was angry and completely rejected Israel.

God heard and was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 He abandoned the sanctuary of Shiloh, the tent where he had lived among people.

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

61 He allowed his strength to be captured and gave his glory into the enemy's hand.

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

62 He handed his people over to the sword, and he was angry with his heritage.

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

63 Fire devoured their young men, and 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 fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.

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

65 Then the Lord awakened as one from sleep, like a warrior who shouts because of wine.

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

66 He drove his adversaries back; he put them to everlasting shame.

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

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, and he did not chose the tribe of Ephraim.

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

68 He chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion that he loved.

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

69 He built his sanctuary like the heavens, like the earth that he has established forever.

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

70 He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.

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

71 He took him from following the ewes with their young, and he brought him to be shepherd of Jacob, his people, and of Israel, his heritage.

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

72 David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart, and he guided them with the skill of his 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.