Ps-78
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v1
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
v2
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
v3
things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
v4
We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
v5
He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
v6
that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
v7
so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
v8
and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
v9
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
v10
They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
v11
They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
v12
In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
v13
He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.
v14
In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.
v15
He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
v16
He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
v17
Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
v18
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
v19
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
v20
He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?“
v21
Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,
v22
because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.
v23
Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
v24
and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.
v25
Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
v26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
v27
he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
v28
he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
v29
And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
v30
But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,
v31
the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
v32
In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.
v33
So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.
v34
When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
v35
They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
v36
But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
v37
Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.
v38
Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.
v39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
v40
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
v41
They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
v42
They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
v43
when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
v44
He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
v45
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
v46
He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
v47
He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
v48
He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
v49
He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
v50
He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
v51
He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
v52
Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
v53
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
v54
And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
v55
He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
v56
Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
v57
but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
v58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
v59
When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
v60
He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
v61
and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.
v62
He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.
v63
Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song.
v64
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
v65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
v66
And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
v67
He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
v68
but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
v69
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
v70
He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
v71
from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
v72
With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.