Salmos 78

God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

A #78:0 Possibly, Contemplative; or Didactic; or Skillful PsalmMaskil of Asaph.

1 Listen, my people, to my *78:1 Or law, teachinginstruction;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will tell riddles of old,

3 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

4 We will not conceal them from their children,

But we will tell the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

And His power and His wondrous works that He has done.

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which He commanded our fathers

That they were to *78:5 Lit make them knownteach them to their children,

6 So that the generation to come would know, the children yet to be born,

That they would arise and tell them to their children,

7 So that they would put their confidence in God

And not forget the works of God,

But comply with His commandments,

8 And not be like their fathers,

A stubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that did not *78:8 Or put rightprepare its heart

And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The sons of Ephraim *78:9 Or beingwere archers equipped with bows,

Yet they turned back on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep the covenant of God

And refused to walk in His Law;

11 They forgot His deeds

And His *78:11 Or wonderful worksmiracles that He had shown them.

12 He performed wonders before their fathers

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,

And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

14 Then He led them with the cloud by day

And all the night with a light of fire.

15 He split the rocks in the wilderness

And gave them plenty to drink like the ocean depths.

16 He brought forth streams from the rock

And made waters run down like rivers.

17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,

To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 And in their heart they put God to the test

By asking for food *78:18 Lit to their soulthat suited their taste.

19 Then they spoke against God;

They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 "Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,

And streams were overflowing;

Can He also provide bread?

Will He prepare meat for His people?"

21 Therefore the Lord heard and *78:21 Or became infuriatedwas full of wrath;

And a fire was kindled against Jacob,

And anger also mounted against Israel,

22 Because they did not believe in God

And did not trust in His salvation.

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above

And opened the doors of heaven;

24 He rained down manna upon them to eat,

And gave them *78:24 Lit grainfood from heaven.

25 Man ate the bread of *78:25 Lit mighty onesangels;

He sent them *78:25 Or provisionfood *78:25 Lit to satiationin abundance.

26 He made the east wind blow in the sky

And by His *78:26 Or strengthpower He directed the south wind.

27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust,

Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,

28 He let them fall in the midst of *78:28 Lit Histheir camp,

All around their dwellings.

29 So they ate and were well filled,

And He *78:29 Lit brought to them theirsatisfied their longing.

30 * 78:30 Lit They did not turn away from their Yet before they had abandoned their longing,

While their food was in their mouths,

31 The anger of God rose against them

And killed *78:31 Lit among their fat onessome of their strongest ones,

And *78:31 Lit caused to bow downsubdued the choice men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this they still sinned

And did not believe in His wonderful works.

33 So He brought their days to an end in futility,

And their years to an end in sudden terror.

34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,

And they returned and searched diligently for God;

35 And they remembered that God was their rock,

And the Most High God their Redeemer.

36 But they flattered Him with their mouth

And lied to Him with their tongue.

37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,

Nor were they faithful with His covenant.

38 But He, being compassionate, *78:38 Lit covered over, atoned forforgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them;

And often He *78:38 Lit turned awayrestrained His anger

And did not stir up all His wrath.

39 So He remembered that they were only flesh,

A *78:39 Or breathwind that passes and does not return.

40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness

And grieved Him in the desert!

41 Again and again they *78:41 Or put God to the testtempted God,

And pained the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember His *78:42 Lit handpower,

The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

43 When He performed His signs in Egypt

And His marvels in the field of Zoan,

44 And turned their rivers to blood,

And their streams, so that they could not drink.

45 He sent swarms of flies among them that devoured them,

And frogs that destroyed them.

46 He also gave their crops to the grasshopper

And the product of their labor to the locust.

47 He *78:47 Lit was killingdestroyed their vines with hailstones

And their sycamore trees with frost.

48 He also turned their cattle over to the hailstones,

And their herds to bolts of lightning.

49 He sent His burning anger upon them,

Fury and indignation and trouble,

A band of *78:49 Lit angels of evil ones; another reading is evil angelsdestroying angels.

50 He leveled a path for His anger;

He did not spare their souls from death,

But turned their lives over to the plague,

51 And struck all the firstborn in Egypt,

The first and best of their vigor in the tents of Ham.

52 But He led His own people out like sheep,

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

53 He led them safely, so that they did not fear;

But the sea engulfed their enemies.

54 So He brought them to His holy *78:54 Lit border, territoryland,

To this *78:54 Or mountainhill country which His right hand had gained.

55 He also drove out the nations from them

And apportioned them as an inheritance by measurement,

And had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they *78:56 Or put to the testtempted and rebelled against the Most High God

And did not keep His testimonies,

57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers;

They turned aside like a treacherous bow.

58 For they provoked Him with their high places

And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

59 When God heard them, He *78:59 Or became infuriatedwas filled with wrath

And He utterly rejected Israel;

60 So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,

The tent *78:60 Some ancient versions where He dweltwhich He had pitched among people,

61 And He gave up His strength to captivity

And His glory into the hand of the enemy.

62 He also turned His people over to the sword,

And *78:62 Or became infuriatedwas filled with wrath at His inheritance.

63 Fire devoured *78:63 Or theirHis young men,

And *78:63 Or theirHis virgins had no wedding songs.

64 * 78:64 Or their His priests fell by the sword,

And *78:64 Or theirHis widows could not weep.

65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,

Like a warrior *78:65 Or sobered up fromovercome by wine.

66 He *78:66 Lit struckdrove His adversaries backward;

He put on them an everlasting disgrace.

67 He also rejected the tent of Joseph,

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which He loved.

69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which He has established forever.

70 He also chose His servant David

And took him from the sheepfolds;

71 From *78:71 Lit followingthe care of the *78:71 Lit ewes that wet-nurse, Heewes with nursing lambs He brought him

To shepherd Jacob His people,

And Israel His inheritance.

72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,

And guided them with his skillful hands.