Psalm 78

1 {An instruction. Of Asaph.} Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.DBY — Psalm 78:1

2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles from of old,DBY — Psalm 78:2

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us:DBY — Psalm 78:3

4 We will not hide [them] from their sons, shewing forth to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his marvellous works which he hath done.DBY — Psalm 78:4

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;DBY — Psalm 78:5

6 That the generation to come might know [them], the children that should be born; that they might rise up and tell [them] to their children,DBY — Psalm 78:6

7 And that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but observe his commandments;DBY — Psalm 78:7

8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.DBY — Psalm 78:8

9 The sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.DBY — Psalm 78:9

10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;DBY — Psalm 78:10

11 And forgot his doings, and his marvellous works which he had shewn them.DBY — Psalm 78:11

12 In the sight of their fathers had he done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.DBY — Psalm 78:12

13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; and made the waters to stand as a heap;DBY — Psalm 78:13

14 And he led them with a cloud in the daytime, and all the night with the light of fire.DBY — Psalm 78:14

15 He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as out of the depths, abundantly;DBY — Psalm 78:15

16 And he brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.DBY — Psalm 78:16

17 Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert;DBY — Psalm 78:17

18 And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;DBY — Psalm 78:18

19 And they spoke against God: they said, Is God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?DBY — Psalm 78:19

20 Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?DBY — Psalm 78:20

21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel:DBY — Psalm 78:21

22 Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation;DBY — Psalm 78:22

23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,DBY — Psalm 78:23

24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.DBY — Psalm 78:24

25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.DBY — Psalm 78:25

26 He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind;DBY — Psalm 78:26

27 And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,DBY — Psalm 78:27

28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations:DBY — Psalm 78:28

29 And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.DBY — Psalm 78:29

30 They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths,DBY — Psalm 78:30

31 When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.DBY — Psalm 78:31

32 For all this, they sinned still, and believed not in his marvellous works;DBY — Psalm 78:32

33 And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.DBY — Psalm 78:33

34 When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after God;DBY — Psalm 78:34

35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and God, the Most High, their redeemer.DBY — Psalm 78:35

36 But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;DBY — Psalm 78:36

37 For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.DBY — Psalm 78:37

38 But he was merciful: he forgave the iniquity, and destroyed [them] not; but many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his fury:DBY — Psalm 78:38

39 And he remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and cometh not again.DBY — Psalm 78:39

40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!DBY — Psalm 78:40

41 And they turned again and tempted God, and grieved the Holy One of Israel.DBY — Psalm 78:41

42 They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,DBY — Psalm 78:42

43 How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan;DBY — Psalm 78:43

44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink;DBY — Psalm 78:44

45 He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them;DBY — Psalm 78:45

46 And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust;DBY — Psalm 78:46

47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones;DBY — Psalm 78:47

48 And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.DBY — Psalm 78:48

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress, a mission of angels of woes.DBY — Psalm 78:49

50 He made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;DBY — Psalm 78:50

51 And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham.DBY — Psalm 78:51

52 And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;DBY — Psalm 78:52

53 And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies.DBY — Psalm 78:53

54 And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased;DBY — Psalm 78:54

55 And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.DBY — Psalm 78:55

56 But they tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies,DBY — Psalm 78:56

57 And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow.DBY — Psalm 78:57

58 And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.DBY — Psalm 78:58

59 God heard, and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:DBY — Psalm 78:59

60 And he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men,DBY — Psalm 78:60

61 And gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor;DBY — Psalm 78:61

62 And delivered up his people unto the sword, and was very wroth with his inheritance:DBY — Psalm 78:62

63 The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not praised in [nuptial] song;DBY — Psalm 78:63

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.DBY — Psalm 78:64

65 Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine;DBY — Psalm 78:65

66 And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach.DBY — Psalm 78:66

67 And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,DBY — Psalm 78:67

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved;DBY — Psalm 78:68

69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever.DBY — Psalm 78:69

70 And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:DBY — Psalm 78:70

71 From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.DBY — Psalm 78:71

72 And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.DBY — Psalm 78:72