Psalm 78
78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words
of my mouth.
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of
old:
78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the
generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his
wonderful works that he hath done.
78:5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in
Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them
known to their children:
78:6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children
which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their
children:
78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works
of God, but keep his commandments:
78:8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious
generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose
spirit was not stedfast with God.
78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned
back in the day of battle.
78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his
law;
78:11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
78:12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the
land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
78:13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made
the waters to stand as an heap.
78:14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night
with a light of fire.
78:15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out
of the great depths.
78:16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to
run down like rivers.
78:17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High
in the wilderness.
78:18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their
lust.
78:19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table
in the wilderness?
78:20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the
streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for
his people?
78:21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was
kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
78:22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his
salvation:
78:23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the
doors of heaven,
78:24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them
of the corn of heaven.
78:25 Man did eat angelsβ food: he sent them meat to the full.
78:26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power
he brought in the south wind.
78:27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like
as the sand of the sea:
78:28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their
habitations.
78:29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their
own desire;
78:30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat
was yet in their mouths,
78:31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them,
and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
78:32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his
wondrous works.
78:33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years
in trouble.
78:34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and
enquired early after God.
78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God
their redeemer.
78:36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they
lied unto him with their tongues.
78:37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they
stedfast in his covenant.
78:38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and
destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did
not stir up all his wrath.
78:39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth
away, and cometh not again.
78:40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him
in the desert!
78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One
of Israel.
78:42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them
from the enemy.
78:43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the
field of Zoan.
78:44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that
they could not drink.
78:45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;
and frogs, which destroyed them.
78:46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their
labour unto the locust.
78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees
with frost.
78:48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to
hot thunderbolts.
78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and
indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
78:50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death,
but gave their life over to the pestilence;
78:51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their
strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
78:52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them
in the wilderness like a flock.
78:53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea
overwhelmed their enemies.
78:54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this
mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
78:55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an
inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their
tents.
78:56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not
his testimonies:
78:57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they
were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
78:58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved
him to jealousy with their graven images.
78:59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
78:60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he
placed among men;
78:61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into
the enemyβs hand.
78:62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with
his inheritance.
78:63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not
given to marriage.
78:64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no
lamentation.
78:65 Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man
that shouteth by reason of wine.
78:66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a
perpetual reproach.
78:67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the
tribe of Ephraim:
78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
78:69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth
which he hath established for ever.
78:70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the
sheepfolds:
78:71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed
Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
78:72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and
guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
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