Psalms 78

1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.

1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.

4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

6 that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

7 that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

8 Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

9 The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

10 They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.

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

11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.

11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

12 He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

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

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

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

21 Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,

21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

22 because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.

23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24 He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

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

25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.

26 He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.

26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

27 He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

28 He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.

28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

29 So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.

29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

30 Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,

30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

31 God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

33 So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

35 And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

37 Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

38 And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.

38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!

40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41 Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

44 He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink.

44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.

46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

47 He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.

48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

50 He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.

50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.

51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52 He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired.

54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

55 He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.

57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58 They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.

59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61 He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.

61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.

62 He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage.

62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

63 Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

64 His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim.

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68 But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

69 He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.

69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70 He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

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

71 from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance.

71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.