Psalm 78 ISV

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◄ Psalm 78 ►

International Standard Version

Par ▾

An instructiona of Asaph

Remembering God in Times of Trouble

1Listen, my people, to my instruction.

Hearb the words of my mouth.

2I will tellc a parable,

speaking riddles from long ago—

3things that we have heard and known

and that our ancestors related to us.

4We will not withhold them from their descendants;

we’ll declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD—

his might and awesome deeds that he has performed.

5He established a decree in Jacob,

and established the Law in Israel,

that he commanded our ancestors

to reveal to their children

6in order that the next generation—

children yet to be born—

will know them and

in turn teach them to their children.

7Then they will put their trust in God

and they will not forget his awesome deeds.

Instead, they will keep his commandments.

8They will not be like the rebellious generation of their ancestors,

a rebellious generation,

whose heart was not steadfast,

and whose spirits were unfaithful to God.

9The descendants of Ephraim were sharp shooters with the bow,

but they retreated in the day of battle.

10They did not keep God’s covenant,

and refused to live by his Law.

11They have forgotten what he has done,

his awesome deeds that they witnessed.

12He performed marvelous things

in the presence of their ancestors

in the land of Egypt—

in the fields of Zoan.

13He divided the sea so that they were able to cross;

he caused the water to stand in a single location.

14He led them with a cloud during the day,

and during the night with light from the fire.

15He caused the rocks to split in the wilderness,

and gave them waterd as from an abundant sea.

16He brought streams from rock,

causing water to flow like a river.

17But time and again, they sinned against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18To test God was in their minds,

when they demanded food to satisfy their cravings.e

19They spoke against God by asking,

“Is God able to prepare a feastf in the desert?

20It’s true thatg Mosesh struck the rock so that water flowed forth

and torrents of water gushed out,

but is he also able to give bread

or to supply meat for his people?”

21Therefore, when the LORD heard this, he was angry,

and fire broke out against Jacob.

Moreover, his anger flared against Israel,

22because they didn’t believe in God

and didn’t trust in his deliverance.

23Yet he commanded the skies above

and the doors of the heavens to open,

24so that manna rained down on them for food

and he sent them the grain of heaven.

25Mortal meni ate the food of angels;

he sent provision to them in abundance.

26He stirred up the east wind in the heavens

and drove the south wind by his might.

27He caused meat to rain on them like dust

and winged birds as the sand of the sea.

28He caused these to fall in the middle of the camp

and all around their tents.

29So they ate and were very satisfied,

because he granted their desire.

30However, before they had fulfilled their desire,

while their food was still in their mouths,

31the anger of God flared against them,

and he killed the strongest men

and humbled Israel’s young men.

32In spite of all of this, they kept on sinning

and didn’t believe in his marvelous deeds.

33So he made their days end in futility,

and their years with sudden terror.

34When he struck them, they sought him;

they repented, and eagerly sought God.

35Then they remembered that God was their rock,

and the Most High God was their deliverer.

36But they deceived him with their mouths;

they lied to him with their tongues.

37For their hearts weren’t committed to him,

and they weren’t faithful to his covenant.

38But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity

and didn’t destroy them;

He restrained his anger

and didn’t vent all his wrath.

39For he remembered that they were only flesh,

a passing wind that doesn’t return.

40How they rebelled against him in the desert,

grieving him in the wilderness!

41They tested God again and again,

provoking the Holy One of Israel.

42They did not remember his power—

the day he delivered them from their adversary,

43when he set his signs in Egypt

and his wonders in the plain of Zoan.

44He turned their rivers into blood

and made their streams undrinkable.

45He sent swarms of insects to bite them

and frogs to destroy them.

46He gave their crops to caterpillars

and what they worked for to locusts.

47He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamorej trees with frost.

48He delivered their beasts to hail

and their livestock to lightning bolts.

49He inflicted his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

sending destroying angels among them.

50He blazed a path for his anger;

he did not stop short from killing them,

but handed them over to pestilence.

51He struck every firstborn in Egypt,

the first fruits of their manhood in the tents of Ham.

52Yet he led out his people like sheep,

guiding them like a flock in the desert.

53He led them to safety so they would not fear.

As for their enemies, the sea covered them.

54He brought the peoplek to the border of his holy mountain,

which he acquired by his might.

55He drove out nations before them

and allotted their tribal inheritance,

settling the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56But they tested the Most High God by rebelling against him,

and they did not obey his statutes.

57They fell away and were as disloyal as their ancestors.

They became unreliable, like a defective bow;

58they angered him with their high places

and with their carved images they made him jealous.

59God heard and became furious,

and he completely rejected Israel.

60He abandoned the tent at Shiloh,

the tent that he established among mankind.

61Then he sent his mightl into captivity

and his glory into the control of the adversary.

62He delivered his people over to the sword

and was angry with his possession.

63The young men were consumed by fire,

and the virgins had no marriage celebrations.m

64The priests fell by the sword,

yet their widows couldn’t weep.

65The LORD awoke as though from sleep,

like a mighty warrior stimulated by wine.

66He beat back his adversaries,

permanently disgracing them.

67He rejected the clann of Joseph;

and the tribe of Ephraim he did not choose.

68But he chose the tribe of Judah,

the mountain of Zion, which he loves.

69He built his sanctuary, high as the heavens,

like the earth that he established forever.

70Then he chose his servant David,

whom he took from the sheepfold.

71He brought him from birthing sheep

to care for Jacob, his people,

Israel, his possession.

72Davido shepherded them with a devoted heart,

and led them with skillful hands.

Footnotes:
a 78:T Lit. maskil
b 78:1 Lit. Stretch out your ear
c 78:2 Lit. will open my mouth in
d 78:15 Lit. drink
e 78:18 Lit. food for their soul
f 78:19 Or table
g 78:20 Lit. Indeed,
h 78:20 Lit. he
i 78:25 Lit. A man
j 78:47 The sycamore fruit tree native to Israel bears figs
k 78:54 Lit. brought them
l 78:61 i.e. the Ark of the Covenant
m 78:63 Lit. virgins sang no wedding song
n 78:67 Lit. tent
o 78:72 Lit. He