Psalm 78
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 78
Lessons from Israel’s Past
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to the words from my mouth.(B)
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past(C)—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our ancestors have passed down to us.(D)
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
his might, and the wondrous works
he has performed.(E)
5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children(F)
6 so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children(G)
7 so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep his commands.(H)
8 Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.(I)
9 The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle.(J)
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.(K)
11 They forgot what he had done,
the wondrous works he had shown them.(L)
12 He worked wonders in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, the territory of Zoan.(M)
13 He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall.(N)
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night.(O)
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.(P)
16 He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.(Q)
17 But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.(R)
18 They deliberately[a] tested God,
demanding the food they craved.(S)
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.(T)
But can he also provide bread
or furnish meat for his people?” (U)
21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel(V)
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on his salvation.(W)
23 He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.(X)
24 He rained manna for them to eat;
he gave them grain from heaven.(Y)
25 People[b] ate the bread of angels.[c]
He sent them an abundant supply of food.(Z)
26 He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by his might.(AA)
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28 He made them fall in the camp,
all around the tents.(AB)
29 The people ate and were completely satisfied,
for he gave them what they craved.(AC)
30 Before they had turned from what they craved,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and he killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s fit young men.(AD)
32 Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe his wondrous works.(AE)
33 He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.(AF)
34 When he killed some of them,
the rest began to seek him;
they repented and searched for God.(AG)
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.(AH)
36 But they deceived him with their mouths,
they lied to him with their tongues,(AI)
37 their hearts were insincere toward him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.(AJ)
38 Yet he was compassionate;
he atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He often turned his anger aside
and did not unleash[d] all his wrath.(AK)
39 He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.(AL)
40 How often they rebelled against him
in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert.
41 They constantly tested God(AM)
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.(AN)
42 They did not remember his power shown
on the day he redeemed them from the foe,(AO)
43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the territory of Zoan.(AP)
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.(AQ)
45 He sent among them swarms of flies,(AR)
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them.(AS)
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.(AT)
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48 He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts.(AU)
49 He sent his burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity—
a band of deadly messengers.[e](AV)
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.(AW)
51 He struck all the firstborn(AX) in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham.(AY)
52 He led his people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.(AZ)
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.(BA)
54 He brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain his right hand acquired.(BB)
55 He drove out nations before them.(BC)
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(BD)
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep his decrees.(BE)
57 They treacherously turned away like their ancestors;
they became warped like a faulty bow.(BF)
58 They enraged him with their high places
and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.(BG)
59 God heard and became furious;
he completely rejected Israel.(BH)
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where he resided among mankind.(BI)
61 He gave up his strength to captivity
and his splendor to the hand of a foe.(BJ)
62 He surrendered his people to the sword
because he was enraged with his heritage.(BK)
63 Fire consumed his chosen young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.[f](BL)
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and the widows could not lament.(BM)
65 The Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.(BN)
66 He beat back his foes;
he gave them lasting disgrace.(BO)
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.(BP)
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.(BQ)
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;(BR)
71 he brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over his people Jacob—
over Israel, his inheritance.(BS)
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.(BT)
Proverbs 21:7-8
Christian Standard Bible
7 The violence of the wicked sweeps them away
because they refuse to act justly.
Isaiah 49:22-50:11
Christian Standard Bible
22 This is what the Lord God says:
Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my banner to the peoples.(A)
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.(B)
23 Kings will be your guardians
and their queens[a] your nursing mothers.(C)
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground
and lick the dust at your feet.(D)
Then you will know that I am the Lord;(E)
those who put their hope in me
will not be put to shame.(F)
24 Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,
or the captives of a tyrant[b] be delivered?
25 For this is what the Lord says:
“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,
and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;
I will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,(G)
and they will be drunk with their own blood
as with sweet wine.
Then all humanity will know
that I, the Lord, am your Savior,(H)
and your Redeemer,(I) the Mighty One of Jacob.”(J)
50 This is what the Lord says:
Where is your mother’s divorce certificate
that I used to send her away?(K)
Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?(L)
Look, you were sold for your iniquities,(M)
and your mother was sent away
because of your transgressions.
2 Why was no one there when I came?
Why was there no one to answer when I called?
Is my arm too weak to redeem?(N)
Or do I have no power to rescue?
Look, I dry up the sea by my rebuke;(O)
I turn the rivers into a wilderness;
their fish rot because of lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I dress the heavens in black
and make sackcloth their covering.(P)
The Obedient Servant
4 The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are instructed(Q)
to know how to sustain the weary with a word.
He awakens me each morning;
he awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed.(R)
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn back.(S)
6 I gave my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard.
I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting.(T)
7 The Lord God will help me;
therefore I have not been humiliated;
therefore I have set my face like flint,(U)
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 The one who vindicates me is near;(V)
who will contend with me?
Let us confront each other.[c]
Who has a case against me?[d]
Let him come near me!
9 In truth, the Lord God will help me;
who will condemn me?(W)
Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment;
a moth will devour them.(X)
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and listens to his servant?(Y)
Who among you walks in darkness,
and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord;
let him lean on his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
who encircle yourselves with[e] torches;
walk in the light of your fire
and of the torches you have lit!
This is what you’ll get from my hand:
you will lie down in a place of torment.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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