Psalms 78
78
Lessons from History
Asaph’s poetic song of instruction
1Beloved ones, listen to this instruction.
Open your heart to the revelation
of this mystery that I share with you.
2A parable and a proverb are hidden in what I say—
an intriguing riddle # 78:2 The Hebrew word for “riddle” (chidoth) comes from the verb meaning “to tie a knot.” It is something that must be untied and unraveled by the Spirit of God. One of these riddles or wordplays is the name of Jesus hidden in plain sight (see v. 22 and footnote). from the past.
3-4We’ve heard true stories from our fathers about our rich heritage.
We will continue to tell our children
and not hide from the rising generation
the great marvels of our God—
his miracles and power that have brought us all this far.
5The story of Israel is a lesson in God’s ways.
He established decrees for Jacob and established the law in Israel,
and he commanded our forefathers to teach them to their children.
6For perpetuity God’s ways will be passed down
from one generation to the next, even to those not yet born.
7In this way, every generation will set its hope in God
and not forget his wonderful works but keep his commandments.
8By following his ways they will break the past bondage
of their fickle fathers, who were a stubborn, rebellious generation
and whose spirits strayed from the eternal God.
They refused to love him with all their hearts.
9Take, for example, the sons of Ephraim.
Though they were all equipped warriors, each with weapons,
when the battle began they retreated and ran away in fear.
10They didn’t really believe the promises of God;
they refused to trust him and move forward in faith.
11They forgot his wonderful works and the miracles of the past,
12even their exodus from Egypt, the epic miracle of his might.
They forgot the glories of his power at the place of passing over. # 78:12 Or “the fields of Zoan.” Zoan means “crossing place” or “place of departure.” (See v. 43.)
13God split the sea wide open, and
the waters stood at attention on either side
as the people passed on through!
14By day the moving glory-cloud led them forward.
And all through the night the fire-cloud stood as a sentry of light.
15-16In the days of desert dryness, he split open the mighty rock,
and the waters flowed like a river before their very eyes.
He gave them all they wanted to drink from his living springs.
17Yet they kept their rebellion alive against God Most High,
and their sins against God continued to be counted.
18In their hearts they tested God just to get what they wanted,
asking for the food their hearts craved.
19-20Like spoiled children they grumbled against God,
demanding he prove his love by saying,
“Can’t God provide for us in this barren wilderness?
Will he give us food, or will he only give us water?
Where’s our meal?”
21Then God heard all their complaining and was furious!
His anger flared up against his people.
22For they turned away from faith and walked away in fear;
they failed to trust in his power to save # 78:22 The word for “save” looks and sounds like Yeshua (Jesus). them when he was near.
23-24Still he spoke on their behalf, and the skies opened up;
the windows of heaven poured out food,
the mercy bread-manna.
The grain of grace fell from the clouds.
25Humans ate angels’ food—the meal of the mighty ones. # 78:25 The word for “angels” is ‘abirim which means “brave,” “noble,” or “strong.” The psalmist was saying that God gave them the best, most delicious food imaginable, a meal eaten by the mighty ones, and yet the people grew tired of it and began to complain and demanded some variety.
His grace gave them more than enough!
26-27The heavenly winds of miracle power blew in their favor,
and food rained down upon them;
succulent quail quieted their hunger as they ate all they wanted.
28Food fell from the skies, thick as clouds;
their provision floated down right in front of their eyes!
29He gave them all they desired, and they ate to their fill.
30-31But before they had even finished,
even with their food still in their mouths,
God’s fiery anger arose against them,
killing the finest of their mighty men.
32Yet in spite of all this, they kept right on sinning.
Even when they saw God’s marvels,
they refused to believe God could care for them.
33So God cut their lives short with sudden disaster,
with nothing to show for their lives but fear and failure.
34When he cared for them they ignored him,
but when he began to kill them, ending their lives in a moment,
they came running back to God, pleading for mercy.
35They remembered that God, the Mighty One,
was their strong protector,
the Hero-God who would come to their rescue.
36-37But their repentance lasted only as long as they were in danger;
they lied through their teeth to the true God of the Covenant.
So quickly they wandered away from his promises,
following God with their words and not their hearts!
Their worship was only flattery.
38But amazingly, God—so full of compassion—still forgave them.
He covered over their sins with his love,
refusing to destroy them all.
Over and over he held back his anger,
restraining wrath to show them mercy.
39He knew that they were made from mere dust—
frail, fragile, and short-lived, here today and gone tomorrow.
40How many times they rebelled in their desert days!
How they grieved him with their grumblings.
41Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them.
Continually they turned back from him
and provoked # 78:41 The Hebrew verb for “provoked” is a hapax legomenon and comes from a root word for “marked.” It is as though Israel’s behavior wounded the heart of God. the Holy One of Israel!
42They forgot his great love, how he took them by his hand,
and with redemption’s kiss he delivered them from their enemies.
43They disregarded all the epic signs and marvels they saw
when they escaped from Egypt’s bondage.
They forgot the judgment of the plagues that set them free.
44God turned their rivers into blood, leaving the people thirsty.
45He sent them vast swarms of filthy flies that sucked their blood.
He sent hordes of frogs, ruining their lives.
46Grasshoppers consumed all their crops.
47Every garden and every orchard
was flattened with blasts of hailstones,
their fruit trees ruined by a killing frost.
48Even their cattle fell prey, pounded by the falling hail;
their livestock were struck with bolts of lightning.
49Finally, he unleashed upon them the fierceness of his anger.
Such fury!
He sent them sorrow and devastating trouble
by his mighty band of destroying angels;
messengers of death were dispatched against them.
50-51He lifted his mercy and let loose his fearful anger
and did not spare their lives.
He released the judgment-plagues to rage through their land.
God struck down in death all the firstborn sons of Egypt—
the pride and joy of each family.
52Then, like a shepherd leading his sheep, God led his people
out of tyranny, guiding them through the wilderness like a flock.
53Safely and carefully God led them out, with nothing to fear.
But their enemies he led into the sea.
He took care of them there once and for all!
54Eventually God brought his people to the Holy Land,
to a land of hills that he had prepared for them. # 78:54 The Aramaic reads “He brought them to the border of his holiness, the mountain possessed by his right hand.”
55He drove out and scattered all the peoples occupying the land,
staking out an inheritance, a portion for each of Israel’s tribes.
56Yet for all of this, they still rebelled and refused to follow his ways,
provoking to anger the God Most High.
57-58Like traitors turning back, they forsook him.
They were even worse than their fathers!
They became treacherous deceivers, crooked and corrupt,
and worshiped false gods in the high places,
bringing low the name of God with every idol they erected.
No wonder he was filled with jealousy and furious with anger!
59Enraged with anger, God turned his wrath on them,
and he rejected his people with disgust.
60God walked away from them and left his dwelling place at Shiloh,
abandoning the place where he had lived among them,
61allowing his emblem of strength, his glory-ark, to be captured.
Enemies stole the very source of Israel’s power.
62God vented his rage, allowing his people to be butchered
when they went out to battle,
for his anger was intense against his very own.
63Their young men fell on the battlefield and never came back.
Their daughters never heard their wedding songs,
since there was no one left to marry!
64Their priests were slaughtered and their widows were killed
before they had time to weep.
65Then all at once the Almighty awakened
as though he had been asleep.
Like a mighty man he arose, roaring into action!
66He blasted into battle, driving back every foe,
defeating them and disgracing them for time and eternity.
67He rejected Joseph’s family, the tribe of Ephraim.
68He chose instead the tribe of Judah # 78:68 The place of God’s dwelling was moved from the land of Ephraim (Shiloh) to the land of Judah (Jerusalem).
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69There he built his towering temple,
strong and enduring as the earth itself.
70God also chose his beloved one, David.
He promoted him from caring for sheep
and made him his prophetic servant.
71-72God prepared David and took this gentle shepherd-king
and presented him before the people
as the one who would love and care for them
with integrity, a pure heart, and the anointing
to lead Israel, his holy inheritance.
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Psalms 78: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 78
78
One of Asaph’s maskils.
1My people, listen to my teachings.
Listen to what I say.
2I will tell you a story.
I will tell you about things from the past that are hard to understand.
3We have heard the story, and we know it well.
Our fathers told it to us.
4And we will not forget it.
Our people will be telling this story to the last generation.
We will all praise the Lord
and tell about the amazing things he did.
5He made an agreement with Jacob.
He gave the law to Israel.
He gave the commands to our ancestors.
He told them to teach the law to their children.
6Then the next generation, even the children not yet born, would learn the law.
And they would be able to teach it to their own children.
7So they would all trust in God,
never forgetting what he had done
and always obeying his commands.
8They would not be like their ancestors,
who were stubborn and refused to obey.
Their hearts were not devoted to God,
and they were not faithful to him.
9The men from Ephraim had their weapons,
but they ran from the battle.
10They did not keep their agreement with God.
They refused to obey his teachings.
11They forgot the great things he had done
and the amazing things he had shown them.
12While their ancestors watched,
he showed his great power at Zoan in Egypt.
13He split the Red Sea and led the people across.
The water stood like a solid wall on both sides of them.
14Each day God led them with the tall cloud,
and each night he led them with the light from the column of fire.
15He split the rocks in the desert
and gave them an ocean of fresh water.
16He brought a stream of water out of the rock
and made it flow like a river!
17But they continued sinning against him.
They rebelled against God Most High in the desert.
18Then they decided to test God
by telling him to give them the food they wanted.
19They complained about him and said,
“Can God give us food in the desert?
20Yes, he struck the rock and a flood of water came out.
But can he give us bread and meat?”
21The Lord heard what they said
and became angry with Jacob’s people.
He was angry with Israel,
22because they did not trust in him.
They did not believe that God could save them.
23-24But then God opened the clouds above,
and manna rained down on them for food.
It was as if doors in the sky opened,
and grain poured down from a storehouse in the sky.
25These people ate the food of angels.
God sent plenty of food to satisfy them.
26He sent a strong wind from the east,
and by his power he made the south wind blow.
27He made quail fall like rain until they covered the ground.
There were so many birds that they were like sand on the seashore.
28The birds fell in the middle of the camp,
all around their tents.
29The people ate until they were full.
God had given them what they wanted.
30But before they were fully satisfied,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31God became angry and killed even the strongest of them.
He brought down Israel’s best young men.
32But the people continued to sin!
They did not trust in the amazing things God could do.
33So he ended their worthless lives;
he brought their years to a close with disaster.
34When he killed some of them, the others would turn back to him.
They would come running back to God.
35They would remember that God was their Rock.
They would remember that God Most High had saved them.
36But they tried to fool him with their words;
they told him lies.
37Their hearts were not really with him.
They were not faithful to the agreement he gave them.
38But God was merciful.
He forgave their sins and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger.
He never let it get out of control.
39He remembered that they were only people,
like a wind that blows and then is gone.
40Oh, they caused him so much trouble in the desert!
They made him so sad.
41Again and again they tested his patience.
They really hurt the Holy One of Israel.
42They forgot about his power.
They forgot the many times he saved them from the enemy.
43They forgot the miracles in Egypt,
the miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44God turned the rivers into blood,
and the Egyptians could not drink the water.
45He sent swarms of flies that bit them.
He sent the frogs that ruined their lives.
46He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their other plants to locusts.
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their trees with sleet.
48He killed their animals with hail
and their cattle with lightning.
49He showed the Egyptians his anger.
He sent his destroying angels against them.
50He found a way to show his anger.
He did not spare their lives.
He let them die with a deadly disease.
51He killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
He killed every firstborn in Ham’s#78:51 Ham The Egyptians were Ham’s descendants. See Gen. 10:6-10. family.
52Then he led Israel like a shepherd.
He led his people like sheep into the desert.
53He guided them safely.
They had nothing to fear.
He drowned their enemies in the sea.
54He led his people to his holy land,
to the mountain he took with his own power.
55He forced the other nations out before them
and gave each family its share of the land.
He gave each tribe of Israel a place to live.
56But they tested God Most High and made him very sad.
They didn’t obey his commands.
57They turned against him and were unfaithful just like their ancestors.
They changed directions like a boomerang.
58They built high places and made God angry.
They built statues of false gods and made him jealous.
59God heard what they were doing and became very angry.
So he rejected Israel completely!
60He abandoned his place at Shiloh,#78:60 place at Shiloh See 1 Sam. 4:4-11; Jer. 7:17.
the Holy Tent where he lived among the people.
61He let foreigners capture the Box of the Agreement,
the symbol of his power and glory.
62He showed his anger against his people
and let them be killed in war.
63Their young men were burned to death,
and there were no wedding songs for their young women.
64Their priests were killed,
but the widows had no time to mourn for them.
65Finally, our Lord got up
like a man waking from his sleep,
like a soldier after drinking too much wine.
66He forced his enemies to turn back defeated.
He brought them shame that will last forever.
67Then he rejected Joseph’s family.
He did not accept Ephraim’s family.
68No, he chose the tribe of Judah,
and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves.
69He built his holy Temple high on that mountain.
Like the earth, God built his Temple to last forever.
70He chose David to be his special servant.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71He took him away from the job of caring for sheep
and gave him the job of caring for the descendants of Jacob—Israel, his chosen people.
72And David led them with a pure heart
and guided them very wisely.
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