Psalm 78

Hear my teaching, O my people; *

incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable; *

I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.

That which we have heard and known,

and what our forefathers have told us, *

we will not hide from their children.

We will recount to generations to come

the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, *

and the wonderful works he has done.

He gave his decrees to Jacob

and established a law for Israel, *

which he commanded them to teach their children;

That the generations to come might know,

and the children yet unborn; *

that they in their turn might tell it to their children;

So that they might put their trust in God, *

and not forget the deeds of God,

but keep his commandments;

And not be like their forefathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation, *

a generation whose heart was not steadfast,

and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, *

turned back in the day of battle;

They did not keep the covenant of God, *

and refused to walk in his law;

They forgot what he had done, *

and the wonders he had shown them.

He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, *

in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He split open the sea and let them pass through; *

he made the waters stand up like walls.

He led them with a cloud by day, *

and all the night through with a glow of fire.

He split the hard rocks in the wilderness *

and gave them drink as from the great deep.

He brought streams out of the cliff, *

and the waters gushed out like rivers.

But they went on sinning against him, *

rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

They tested God in their hearts, *

demanding food for their craving.

They railed against God and said, *

"Can God set a table in the wilderness?

True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed; *

but is he able to give bread

or to provide meat for his people?"

When the LORD heard this, he was full of wrath; *

a fire was kindled against Jacob,

and his anger mounted against Israel;

For they had no faith in God, *

nor did they put their trust in his saving power.

So he commanded the clouds above *

and opened the doors of heaven.

He rained down manna upon them to eat *

and gave them grain from heaven.

So mortals ate the bread of angels; *

he provided for them food enough.

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *

and led out the south wind by his might.

He rained down flesh upon them like dust *

and wingèd birds like the sand of the sea.

He let it fall in the midst of their camp *

and round about their dwellings.

So they ate and were well filled, *

for he gave them what they craved.

But they did not stop their craving, *

though the food was still in their mouths.

So God's anger mounted against them; *

he slew their strongest men

and laid low the youth of Israel.

In spite of all this, they went on sinning *

and had no faith in his wonderful works.

So he brought their days to an end like a breath *

and their years in sudden terror.

Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, *

and repent, and diligently search for God.

They would remember that God was their rock, *

and the Most High God their redeemer.

But they flattered him with their mouths *

and lied to him with their tongues.

Their heart was not steadfast toward him, *

and they were not faithful to his covenant.

But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins

and did not destroy them; *

many times he held back his anger

and did not permit his wrath to be roused.

For he remembered that they were but flesh, *

a breath that goes forth and does not return.

How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness *

and offended him in the desert!

Again and again they tempted God *

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his power *

in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;

How he wrought his signs in Egypt *

and his omens in the field of Zoan.

He turned their rivers into blood, *

so that they could not drink of their streams.

He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up, *

and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave their crops to the caterpillar, *

the fruit of their toil to the locust.

He killed their vines with hail *

and their sycamores with frost.

He delivered their cattle to hailstones *

and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.

He poured out upon them his blazing anger: *

fury, indignation, and distress,

a troop of destroying angels.

He gave full rein to his anger;

he did not spare their souls from death; *

but delivered their lives to the plague.

He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, *

the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.

He led out his people like sheep *

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; *

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

He brought them to his holy land, *

the mountain his right hand had won.

He drove out the Canaanites before them

and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; *

he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, *

and did not keep his commandments.

They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; *

they were undependable like a warped bow.

They grieved him with their hill-altars *

they provoked his displeasure with their idols.

When God heard this, he was angry *

and utterly rejected Israel.

He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, *

the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.

He delivered the ark into captivity, *

his glory into the adversary's hand.

He gave his people to the sword *

and was angered against his inheritance.

The fire consumed their young men; *

there were no wedding songs for their maidens.

Their priests fell by the sword, *

and their widows made no lamentation.

Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, *

like a warrior refreshed with wine.

He struck his enemies on the backside *

and put them to perpetual shame.

He rejected the tent of Joseph *

and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

He chose instead the tribe of Judah *

and Mount Zion, which he loved.

He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, *

like the earth which he founded for ever.

He chose David his servant, *

and took him away from the sheepfolds.

He brought him from following the ewes, *

to be a shepherd over Jacob his people

and over Israel his inheritance.

So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart *

and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.