Psalm 78:51-72

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

⁵¹ He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents [of the land of the sons] of Ham.

⁵² But [God] led His own people forth like sheep and guided them [with a shepherd’s care] like a flock in the wilderness.

⁵³ And He led them on safely and in confident trust, so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.^(A)

⁵⁴ And He brought them to His holy border, the border of [Canaan] His sanctuary, even to this mountain [Zion] which His right hand had acquired.

⁵⁵ He drove out the nations also before [Israel] and allotted their land as a heritage, measured out and partitioned; and He made the tribes of Israel to dwell in the tents of those dispossessed.

⁵⁶ Yet they tempted and provoked and rebelled against the Most High God and kept not His testimonies.

⁵⁷ But they turned back and dealt unfaithfully and treacherously like their fathers; they were twisted like a warped and deceitful bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].

⁵⁸ For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [for idol worship] and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.

⁵⁹ When God heard this, He was full of [holy] wrath; and He utterly rejected Israel, greatly abhorring and loathing [her ways],

⁶⁰ So that He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent in which He had dwelt among men [and never returned to it again],

⁶¹ And delivered His strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity, and His glory into the hands of the foe (the Philistines).^(B)

⁶² He gave His people over also to the sword and was wroth with His heritage [Israel].^(C)

⁶³ The fire [of war] devoured their young men, and their bereaved virgins were not praised in a wedding song.

⁶⁴ Their priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation [for the bodies came not back from the scene of battle, and the widow of Phinehas also died that day].^(D)

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awakened as from sleep, as a strong man whose consciousness of power is heightened by wine.

⁶⁶ And He smote His adversaries in the back [as they fled]; He put them to lasting shame and reproach.

⁶⁷ Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim [in which the tabernacle had been accustomed to stand].

⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader], Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].

⁶⁹ And He built His sanctuary [exalted] like the heights [of the heavens] and like the earth which He established forever.

⁷⁰ He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;^(E)

⁷¹ From tending the ewes that had their young He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob His people, of Israel His inheritance.^(F)

⁷² So [David] was their shepherd with an upright heart; he guided them by the discernment and skillfulness [which controlled] his hands.