Psalms 78:1-41 ▼

1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

4 We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

6 that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

7 that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

8 Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

10 They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.

11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.

12 He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

13 He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

21 Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,

22 because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.

24 He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

25 Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

26 He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.

27 He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

28 He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.

29 So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.

30 Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,

31 God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

33 So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

35 And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

37 Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

38 And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!

41 Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.