Psalm 78-83
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)
Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.(BU)
1 God, the nations have invaded your inheritance,
desecrated your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.(BV)
2 They gave the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of your faithful ones
to the beasts of the earth.(BW)
3 They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(BX)
4 We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.(BY)
5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?(BZ)
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,(CA)
7 for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.(CB)
8 Do not hold past iniquities[g] against us;
let your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become very weak.(CC)
9 God of our salvation, help us,(CD)
for the glory of your name.
Rescue us and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake.(CE)
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?” (CF)
Before our eyes,
let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants
be known among the nations.(CG)
11 Let the groans of the prisoners reach you;
according to your great power,
preserve those condemned to die.(CH)
12 Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors(CI)
the reproach they have hurled at you, Lord.(CJ)
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,(CK)
will thank you forever;
we will declare your praise
to generation after generation.(CL)
Psalm 80
A Prayer for Restoration
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.”(CM) A testimony of Asaph.(CN) A psalm.
1 Listen, Shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock;(CO)
you who sit enthroned between the cherubim,(CP)
shine(CQ) 2 on Ephraim,
Benjamin, and Manasseh.(CR)
Rally your power and come to save us.(CS)
3 Restore us, God;
make your face shine on us,(CT)
so that we may be saved.(CU)
4 Lord God of Armies,
how long will you be angry
with your people’s prayers?(CV)
5 You fed them the bread of tears
and gave them a full measure[h]
of tears to drink.(CW)
6 You put us at odds with our neighbors;
our enemies mock us.(CX)
7 Restore us, God of Armies;
make your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.(CY)
8 You dug up a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.(CZ)
9 You cleared a place for it;
it took root and filled the land.(DA)
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars[i] with its branches.(DB)
11 It sent out sprouts toward the Sea[j]
and shoots toward the River.[k](DC)
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?(DD)
13 Boars from the forest tear at it
and creatures of the field feed on it.(DE)
14 Return, God of Armies.(DF)
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
15 the root[l] your right hand planted,
the son[m] that you made strong for yourself.(DG)
16 It was cut down and burned;
they[n] perish at the rebuke of your countenance.(DH)
17 Let your hand be with the man at your right hand,
with the son of man
you have made strong for yourself.(DI)
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.(DJ)
19 Restore us, Lord, God of Armies;(DK)
make your face shine on us, so that we may be saved.(DL)
Psalm 81
A Call to Obedience
For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.(DM)
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.(DN)
2 Lift up a song—play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp.(DO)
3 Blow the ram’s horn on the day of our feasts[o]
during the new moon(DP)
and during the full moon.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.(DQ)
5 He set it up as a decree for Joseph
when he went throughout[p] the land of Egypt.(DR)
I heard an unfamiliar language:
6 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.(DS)
7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud.(DT)
I tested you at the Waters of Meribah.(DU)Selah
8 Listen, my people, and I will admonish you.
Israel, if you would only listen to me!(DV)
9 There must not be a strange god among you;
you must not bow down to a foreign god.(DW)
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.(DX)
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(DY)
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel did not obey me.(DZ)
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.(EA)
13 If only my people would listen to me
and Israel would follow my ways,(EB)
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.”(EC)
15 Those who hate the Lord
would cower to him;(ED)
their doom would last forever.(EE)
16 But he would feed Israel[q] with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”(EF)
Psalm 82
A Plea for Righteous Judgment
A psalm of Asaph.(EG)
1 God stands in the divine assembly;
he pronounces judgment among the gods:[r](EH)
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?(EI)Selah
3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.(EJ)
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”(EK)
5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.(EL)
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.(EM)
6 I said, “You are gods;(EN)
you are all sons of the Most High.(EO)
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”(EP)
8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.(EQ)
Psalm 83
Prayer against Enemies
A song. A psalm of Asaph.(ER)
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf, God; do not be quiet.(ES)
2 See how your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have acted arrogantly.[s](ET)
3 They devise clever schemes against your people;
they conspire against your treasured ones.(EU)
4 They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation
so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”(EV)
5 For they have conspired with one mind;
they form an alliance[t] against you(EW)—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,(EX)
Moab and the Hagrites,(EY)
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,(EZ)
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.(FA)
8 Even Assyria has joined them;
they lend support[u] to the sons of Lot.[v](FB)Selah
9 Deal with them as you did with Midian,(FC)
as you did with Sisera
and Jabin at the Kishon River.(FD)
10 They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became manure for the ground.(FE)
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,(FF)
and all their tribal leaders like Zebah and Zalmunna,(FG)
12 who said, “Let’s seize God’s pastures for ourselves.”(FH)
13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like straw before the wind.(FI)
14 As fire burns a forest,
as a flame blazes through mountains,(FJ)
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.(FK)
16 Cover their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, Lord.(FL)
17 Let them be put to shame and terrified forever;
let them perish in disgrace.(FM)
18 May they know that you alone—
whose name is the Lord—
are the Most High over the whole earth.(FN)
Footnotes
- 78:18 Lit in their heart
- 78:25 Lit Man
- 78:25 Lit mighty ones
- 78:38 Or stir up
- 78:49 Or angels
- 78:63 Lit virgins were not praised
- 79:8 Or hold the sins of past generations
- 80:5 Lit a one-third measure
- 80:10 Lit the cedars of God
- 80:11 = the Mediterranean
- 80:11 = the Euphrates
- 80:15 Hb obscure
- 80:15 Or shoot
- 80:16 Or may they
- 81:3 Lit feast
- 81:5 Or he gained authority over
- 81:16 Lit him
- 82:1 Or the heavenly beings, or the earthly rulers; Hb elohim
- 83:2 Lit have lifted their head
- 83:5 Lit they cut a covenant
- 83:8 Lit they are an arm
- 83:8 = Moab and Ammon
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