Psalm 78:1-39

Common English Bible

Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

78 Listen, my people, to my teaching;
    tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth with a proverb.
    I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—
³        ones that we’ve heard and learned about,
        ones that our ancestors told us.
⁴We won’t hide them from their descendants;
    we’ll tell the next generation
    all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—
    the wondrous works God has done.
⁵He established a law for Jacob
    and set up Instruction for Israel,
        ordering our ancestors
        to teach them to their children.
⁶This is so that the next generation
    and children not yet born will know these things,
        and so they can rise up and tell their children
⁷    to put their hope in God—
        never forgetting God’s deeds,
        but keeping God’s commandments—
⁸    and so that they won’t become like their ancestors:
    a rebellious, stubborn generation,
        a generation whose heart wasn’t set firm
        and whose spirit wasn’t faithful to God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, armed with bows,
    retreated on the day of battle.
¹⁰They didn’t keep God’s covenant;
    they refused to walk in his Instruction.
¹¹They forgot God’s deeds
    as well as the wondrous works he showed them.
¹²But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence—
    in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
¹³God split the sea and led them through,
    making the waters stand up like a wall.
¹⁴God led them with the cloud by day;
    by the lightning all through the night.
¹⁵God split rocks open in the wilderness,
    gave them plenty to drink—
    as if from the deep itself!
¹⁶God made streams flow from the rock,
    made water run like rivers.

¹⁷But they continued to sin against God,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸They tested God in their hearts,
    demanded food for their stomachs.
¹⁹They spoke against God!
    “Can God set a dinner table in the wilderness?” they asked.
²⁰“True, God struck the rock
    and water gushed and streams flowed,
        but can he give bread too?
        Can he provide meat for his people?”
²¹When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
        A fire was ignited against Jacob;
    wrath also burned against Israel
²²        because they had no faith in God,
        because they didn’t trust his saving power.
²³God gave orders to the skies above,
    opened heaven’s doors,
²⁴    and rained manna on them so they could eat.
        He gave them the very grain of heaven!
²⁵Each person ate the bread of the powerful ones;^[b]
    God sent provisions to satisfy them.
²⁶God set the east wind moving across the skies
    and drove the south wind by his strength.
²⁷He rained meat on them as if it were dust in the air;
    he rained as many birds as the sand on the seashore!
²⁸God brought the birds down in the center of their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹So they ate and were completely satisfied;
    God gave them exactly what they had craved.
³⁰But they didn’t stop craving—
    even with the food still in their mouths!
³¹So God’s anger came up against them:
    he killed the most hearty of them;
        he cut down Israel’s youth in their prime.
³²But in spite of all that, they kept sinning
    and had no faith in God’s wondrous works.
³³So God brought their days to an end,
    like a puff of air,
    and their years in total ruin.
³⁴But whenever God killed them, they went after him!
    They would turn and earnestly search for God.
³⁵They would remember that God was their rock,
    that the Most High was their redeemer.
³⁶But they were just flattering him with lip service.
    They were lying to him with their tongues.
³⁷Their hearts weren’t firmly set on him;
    they weren’t faithful to his covenant.
³⁸But God, being compassionate,
    kept forgiving their sins,
    kept avoiding destruction;
    he took back his anger so many times,
    wouldn’t stir up all his wrath!
³⁹God kept remembering that they were just flesh,
    just breath that passes and doesn’t come back.