Psalms 78

God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

1 Psalms 78:1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,

3 Psalms 78:3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.

4 Psalms 78:4 We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

5 Psalms 78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,

6 Psalms 78:6 That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children,

7 Psalms 78:7 That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments,

8 Psalms 78:8 And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 Psalms 78:9 The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

10 Psalms 78:10 They did not keep the covenant of God And refused to walk in His law;

11 Psalms 78:11 They forgot His deeds And His miracles that He had shown them.

12 Psalms 78:12 He wrought wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 Psalms 78:13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

14 Psalms 78:14 Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire.

15 Psalms 78:15 He split the rocks in the wilderness And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

16 Psalms 78:16 He brought forth streams also from the rock And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Psalms 78:17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 Psalms 78:18 And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire.

19 Psalms 78:19 Then they spoke against God; They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Psalms 78:20 “Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?”

21 Psalms 78:21 Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel,

22 Psalms 78:22 Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.

23 Psalms 78:23 Yet He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven;

24 Psalms 78:24 He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven.

25 Psalms 78:25 Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

26 Psalms 78:26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens And by His power He directed the south wind.

27 Psalms 78:27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,

28 Psalms 78:28 Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their dwellings.

29 Psalms 78:29 So they ate and were well filled, And their desire He gave to them.

30 Psalms 78:30 Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths,

31 Psalms 78:31 The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel.

32 Psalms 78:32 In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works.

33 Psalms 78:33 So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror.

34 Psalms 78:34 When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God;

35 Psalms 78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.

36 Psalms 78:36 But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue.

37 Psalms 78:37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

38 Psalms 78:38 But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.

39 Psalms 78:39 Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

40 Psalms 78:40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!

41 Psalms 78:41 Again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.

42 Psalms 78:42 They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,

43 Psalms 78:43 When He performed His signs in Egypt And His marvels in the field of Zoan,

44 Psalms 78:44 And turned their rivers to blood, And their streams, they could not drink.

45 Psalms 78:45 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them.

46 Psalms 78:46 He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust.

47 Psalms 78:47 He destroyed their vines with hailstones And their sycamore trees with frost.

48 Psalms 78:48 He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones And their herds to bolts of lightning.

49 Psalms 78:49 He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury and indignation and trouble, A band of destroying angels.

50 Psalms 78:50 He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague,

51 Psalms 78:51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt, The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.

52 Psalms 78:52 But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

53 Psalms 78:53 He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea engulfed their enemies.

54 Psalms 78:54 So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had gained.

55 Psalms 78:55 He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

56 Psalms 78:56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies,

57 Psalms 78:57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow.

58 Psalms 78:58 For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

59 Psalms 78:59 When God heard, He was filled with wrath And greatly abhorred Israel;

60 Psalms 78:60 So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He had pitched among men,

61 Psalms 78:61 And gave up His strength to captivity And His glory into the hand of the adversary.

62 Psalms 78:62 He also delivered His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

63 Psalms 78:63 Fire devoured His young men, And His virgins had no wedding songs.

64 Psalms 78:64 His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep.

65 Psalms 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine.

66 Psalms 78:66 He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach.

67 Psalms 78:67 He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 Psalms 78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.

69 Psalms 78:69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever.

70 Psalms 78:70 He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds;

71 Psalms 78:71 From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance.

72 Psalms 78:72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands.