Psalms 78
78
PSALM 78
Common Meter: 8,6,8,6
Maschil of Asaph.
1Attend, my people, to my law;
thereto give thou an ear;
The words that from my mouth proceed
attentively do hear.
2My mouth shall speak a parable,
and sayings dark of old;
3The same which we have heard and known,
and us our fathers told.
4We also will them not conceal
from their posterity;
Them to the generation
to come declare will we:
The praises of the Lord our God,
and his almighty strength,
The wondrous works that he hath done,
we will shew forth at length.
5His testimony and his law
in Isr'el he did place,
And charg'd our fathers it to show
to their succeeding race;
6That so the race which was to come
might well them learn and know;
And sons unborn, who should arise,
might to their sons them show:
7That they might set their hope in God,
and suffer not to fall
His mighty works out of their mind,
but keep his precepts all:
8And might not, like their fathers, be
a stiff rebellious race;
A race not right in heart; with God
whose sp'rit not stedfast was.
9The sons of Ephraim, who nor bows
nor other arms did lack,
When as the day of battle was,
they faintly turned back.
10They brake God's cov'nant,
and refus'd in his commands to go;
11His works and wonders they forgot,
which he to them did show.
12Things marvellous he brought to pass;
their fathers them beheld
Within the land of Egypt done,
yea, ev'n in Zoan's field.
13By him divided was the sea,
he caus'd them through to pass;
And made the waters so to stand,
as like an heap it was.
14With cloud by day, with light of fire
all night, he did them guide.
15In desert rocks he clave,
and drink, as from great depths, supply'd.
16He from the rock brought streams, like floods
made waters to run down.
17Yet sinning more, in desert they
provok'd the Highest One.
18For in their heart they tempted God,
and, speaking with mistrust,
They greedily did meat require
to satisfy their lust.
19Against the Lord himself they spake,
and, murmuring, said thus,
A table in the wilderness
can God prepare for us?
20Behold, he smote the rock, and thence
came streams and waters great;
But can he give his people bread?
and send them flesh to eat?
21The Lord did hear, and waxed wroth;
so kindled was a flame
'Gainst Jacob, and 'gainst Israel
up indignation came.
22For they believ'd not God, nor trust
in his salvation had;
23Though clouds above he did command,
and heav'n's doors open made,
24And manna rain'd on them,
and gave them corn of heav'n to eat.
25Man angels' food did eat; to them
he to the full sent meat.
26And in the heaven he did cause
an eastern wind to blow;
And by his power he let out
the southern wind to go.
27Then flesh as thick as dust he made
to rain down them among;
And feather'd fowls, like as the sand
which li'th the shore along.
28At his command amidst their camp
these show'rs of flesh down fell,
All round about the tabernacles
and tents where they did dwell.
29So they did eat abundantly,
and had of meat their fill;
For he did give to them what was
their own desire and will.
30They from their lust had not estrang'd
their heart and their desire;
But while the meat was in their mouths,
which they did so require,
31God's wrath upon them came,
and slew the fattest of them all;
So that the choice of Israel,
o'erthrown by death, did fall.
32Yet, notwithstanding of all this,
they sinned still the more;
And though he had great wonders wrought,
believ'd him not therefore:
33Wherefore their days in vanity
he did consume and waste;
And by his wrath their wretched years
away in trouble past.
34But when he slew them, then they did
to seek him shew desire;
Yea, they return'd, and after God
right early did enquire.
35And that the Lord had been their Rock,
they did remember then;
Ev'n that the high almighty God
had their Redeemer been.
36Yet with their mouth they flatter'd him,
and spake but feignedly;
And they unto the God of truth
with their false tongues did lie.
37For though their words were good, their heart
with him was not sincere;
Unstedfast and perfidious
they in his cov'nant were.
38But, full of pity, he forgave
their sin, them did not slay;
Nor stirr'd up all his wrath, but oft
his anger turn'd away.
39For that they were but fading flesh
to mind he did recall;
A wind that passeth soon away,
and not returns at all.
40How often did they him provoke
within the wilderness!
And in the desert did him grieve
with their rebelliousness!
41Yea, turning back, they tempted God,
and limits set upon
Him, who in midst of Isr'el is
the only Holy One.
42They did not call to mind his pow'r,
nor yet the day when he
Deliver'd them out of the hand
of their fierce enemy;
43Nor how great signs in Egypt land
he openly had wrought;
What miracles in Zoan's field
his hand to pass had brought.
44How lakes and rivers ev'ry where
he turned into blood;
So that nor man nor beast could drink
of standing lake or flood.
45He brought among them swarms of flies,
which did them sore annoy;
And divers kinds of filthy frogs
he sent them to destroy.
46He to the caterpillar gave
the fruits of all their soil;
Their labours he deliver'd up
unto the locusts' spoil.
47Their vines with hail, their sycamores
he with the frost did blast:
48Their beasts to hail he gave; their flocks
hot thunderbolts did waste.
49Fierce burning wrath he on them cast,
and indignation strong,
And troubles sore, by sending forth
ill angels them among.
50He to his wrath made way; their soul
from death he did not save;
But over to the pestilence
the lives of them he gave.
51In Egypt land the first-born all
he smote down ev'ry where;
Among the tents of Ham, ev'n these
chief of their strength that were.
52But his own people, like to sheep,
thence to go forth he made;
And he, amidst the wilderness,
them, as a flock, did lead.
53And he them safely on did lead,
so that they did not fear;
Whereas their en'mies by the sea
quite overwhelmed were.
54To borders of his sanctuary
the Lord his people led,
Ev'n to the mount which his right hand
for them had purchased.
55The nations of Canaan,
by his almighty hand,
Before their face he did expel
out of their native land;
Which for inheritance to them
by line he did divide,
And made the tribes of Israel
within their tents abide.
56Yet God most high they did provoke,
and tempted ever still;
And to observe his testimonies
did not incline their will:
57But, like their fathers, turned back,
and dealt unfaithfully:
Aside they turned, like a bow
that shoots deceitfully.
58For they to anger did provoke
him with their places high;
And with their graven images
mov'd him to jealousy.
59When God heard this, he waxed wroth,
and much loath'd Isr'el then:
60So Shiloh's tent he left, the tent
which he had plac'd with men.
61And he his strength delivered
into captivity;
He left his glory in the hand
of his proud enemy.
62His people also he gave o'er
unto the sword's fierce rage:
So sore his wrath inflamed was
against his heritage.
63The fire consum'd their choice young men;
their maids no marriage had;
64And when their priests fell by the sword,
their wives no mourning made.
65But then the Lord arose, as one
that doth from sleep awake;
And like a giant that, by wine
refresh'd, a shout doth make:
66Upon his en'mies' hinder parts
he made his stroke to fall;
And so upon them he did put
a shame perpetual.
67Moreover, he the tabernacle
of Joseph did refuse;
The mighty tribe of Ephraim
he would in no wise chuse:
68But he did chuse Jehudah's tribe
to be the rest above;
And of mount Sion he made choice,
which he so much did love.
69And he his sanctuary built
like to a palace high,
Like to the earth which he did found
to perpetuity.
70Of David, that his servant was,
he also choice did make,
And even from the folds of sheep
was pleased him to take:
71From waiting on the ewes with young,
he brought him forth to feed
Israel, his inheritance,
his people, Jacob's seed.
72So after the integrity
he of his heart them fed;
And by the good skill of his hands
them wisely governed.
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Psalms 78
78
Psalm 78
A maskil#Title: Probably a literary or musical term of Asaph.
1My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old –
3things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
4We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
6so that the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8They would not be like their ancestors –
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
9The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;
10they did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
11They forgot what he had done,
the wonders he had shown them.
12He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.
14He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.
17But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
18They wilfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God;
they said, ‘Can God really
spread a table in the wilderness?
20True, he struck the rock,
and water gushed out,
streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?’
21When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out against Jacob,
and his wrath rose against Israel,
22for they did not believe in God
or trust in his deliverance.
23Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;
24he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
25Human beings ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
26He let loose the east wind from the heavens
and by his power made the south wind blow.
27He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like sand on the seashore.
28He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.
29They ate till they were gorged –
he had given them what they craved.
30But before they turned from what they craved,
even while the food was still in their mouths,
31God’s anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
33So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
35They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
37their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
39He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his power –
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility –
a band of destroying angels.
50He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
57Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58They angered him with their high places;
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59When God heard them, he was furious;
he rejected Israel completely.
60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent he had set up among humans.
61He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
his splendour into the hands of the enemy.
62He gave his people over to the sword;
he was furious with his inheritance.
63Fire consumed their young men,
and their young women had no wedding songs;
64their priests were put to the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
66He beat back his enemies;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established for ever.
70He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skilful hands he led them.
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