Psalms
Chapter 78
1 Listen, my people, to my teaching; pay attention to what I say.
2 I will speak in simple stories; I will share ancient secrets.
3 We have heard and understand, and our fathers have shared it with us.
4 We won’t hide them from their children, but show the next generation God’s praises, his power, and the amazing things he has done.
5 God set up a witness in Jacob and set a rule in Israel, which he told our ancestors to teach to their children.
6 So future generations might learn about them, the children yet to be born, who will rise and tell their own children.
7 So they would put their hope in God, remember what God has done, and follow his commands.
8 They should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious group; a generation that did not stay true in their heart, and were not loyal to God.
9 The Ephraim people, ready with weapons and bows, ran away when the battle came.
10 They did not keep God’s agreement and did not follow His rules.
11 They forgot what God had done and the amazing things he had shown them.
12 God did amazing things where their ancestors could see, in Egypt, in the Zoan area.
13 He split the sea and let them walk through; he made the waters pile up.
14 During the day, God guided them with a cloud, and all night with a fire’s light.
15 He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as if from deep springs.
16 He made water flow from the rock, creating streams that ran like rivers.
17 They sinned even more against God by angering the Almighty in the desert.
18 They tested God in their hearts by asking for food for their cravings.
19 Yes, they spoke against God, asking, “Can God set up a table in the desert?”
20 Look, he hit the rock, and water rushed out, and rivers flooded; can he also give bread? Can he supply meat for his people?
21 So God heard this and became angry; a fire started against Jacob, and anger rose against Israel.
22 Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his help.
23 Even though he told the clouds from above and opened the gates of the sky,
24 God sent down manna for them to eat and gave them grain from heaven.
25 People ate the food of angels: God gave them all the food they needed.
26 He sent an east wind from the sky, and with his power, he brought the south wind.
27 God made meat fall on them like dust, and birds with feathers like the sand of the sea.
28 He dropped it right into their camp, all around where they lived.
29 They ate and were fully satisfied because God gave them what they wanted.
30 They did not turn away from their desire. But while their food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger fell on them, killed the strongest among them, and struck down Israel’s best men.
32 Despite everything, they kept sinning and didn’t trust in his amazing works.
33 So he made their days vanish in empty pursuits and their years in distress.
34 When God punished them, they looked for him; they returned and eagerly sought God.
35 They remembered God was their strong protector, and the supreme God was the one who saved them.
36 Still, they praised him with their words and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not true to God, nor did they stay faithful to His agreement.
38 He, filled with kindness, forgave their wrongs and did not destroy them. Often, he calmed his anger and did not unleash all his fury.
39 He remembered they were only human, like a breeze that passes and doesn’t return.
40 How often did they upset God in the wilderness and make him sad in the desert!
41 Yes, they turned away and tested God, and restricted the Holy One of Israel.
42 They forgot how God helped them or the time he saved them from their enemy.
43 He showed his signs in Egypt and his miracles in the land of Zoan.
44 God turned their rivers into blood; and their streams, so they could not drink.
45 He sent many kinds of flies among them, which ate them up; and frogs, which ruined them.
46 He also gave their crops to the caterpillars and their work to the locusts.
47 He ruined their grape plants with hailstones, and their fig trees with cold.
48 He let hail kill their cattle and lightning strike their sheep.
49 He sent his fierce anger, wrath, fury, and distress by sending harmful angels to them.
50 He paved a path for his anger; he did not save their lives from death but handed them over to disease.
51 God struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the strongest in the homes of Ham.
52 He led his people out like sheep and guided them through the desert like a herd.
53 He guided them safely so they were not afraid, but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He led them to the edge of his holy place, to the mountain his hand had acquired.
55 He drove out the nations before them, divided their land as an inheritance with measured lines, and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle in their homes.
56 They tested and angered God, and did not follow his teachings.
57 They turned back and were unfaithful like their ancestors; they were unreliable like a bow that does not shoot straight.
58 They made God angry with their worship places and caused him to be jealous with their carved idols.
59 When God heard this, he was angry and strongly disliked Israel.
60 God left the tent at Shiloh, where He had lived among people.
61 He allowed his power to be captured and his honor to fall into the hands of the enemy.
62 He let his people be defeated in battle; and he was angry with his chosen ones.
63 The fire killed their young men, and their young women did not get married.
64 Their priests were killed by the sword, and their widows did not mourn.
65 Then God woke up like someone who has been asleep, like a strong man shouting because he’s had wine.
66 He struck his enemies from behind; he gave them lasting shame.
67 He turned away from Joseph’s tent and did not choose the Ephraim tribe.
68 God chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his holy place tall like palaces, like the earth, which he set up to last forever.
70 God chose David, his servant, and brought him from tending sheep.
71 God took him from caring for pregnant ewes to lead Jacob’s people and Israel his heritage.
72 He took care of them with all his honest heart and led them with the skill of his hands.