Psalms 78

1[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

2I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings [which have been] from the beginning.

3All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us.

4They were not hid from their children to a second generation; [the fathers] declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought.

5And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children:

6that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children.

7That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments.

8That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.

9The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting [with] the bow, turned [back] in the day of battle.

10They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law.

11And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he [had] shewed them;

12the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes.

13He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as [in] a bottle.

14And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.

15He clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep.

16And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers.

17And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness.

18And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for [the desire of] their souls.

19They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

20Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?

21Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel.

22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.

23Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven.

25Man ate angels' bread; he sent them provision to the full.

26He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind.

27And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas.

28And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents.

29So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire.

30They were not disappointed of their desire: [but] when their food was yet in their mouth,

31then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel.

32In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles.

33And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety.

34When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God.

35And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer.

36Yet they loved him [only] with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

37For their heart [was] not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy [them]: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger.

39And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

40How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, [and] anger him in a dry land!

41Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.

43How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes:

44and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink.

45He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them.

46And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust.

47He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

48And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire.

49He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels.

50He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death;

51and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham.

52And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness.

53And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies.

54And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased.

55And he cast out the nations from before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.

57And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow.

58And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59God heard and lightly regarded [them], and greatly despised Israel.

60And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men.

61And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy's hand.

62And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance.

63Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not.

64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for.

65So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, [and] as a mighty man who has been heated with wine.

66And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach.

67And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

68but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved.

69And he built his sanctuary as [the place] of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth.

70He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep.

71He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

72So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.