Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]—(A)
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, but we will tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonderful works that He has performed.
5 For He established a testimony (an express precept) in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, commanding our fathers that they should make [the great facts of God’s dealings with Israel] known to their children,
6 That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born might arise and recount them to their children,
7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments
8 And might not be as their fathers—a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their hearts aright nor prepared their hearts to know God, and whose spirits were not steadfast and faithful to God.
9 The children of Ephraim were armed and carrying bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk according to His law
11 And forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them.
12 Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].
13 He divided the [Red] Sea and caused them to pass through it, and He made the waters stand like a heap.(B)
14 In the daytime also He led them with a [pillar of] cloud and all the night with a light of fire.(C)
15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as out of the deep.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh] and caused waters to run down like rivers.(D)
17 Yet they still went on to sin against Him by provoking and rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness (in the land of drought).
18 And they tempted God in their hearts by asking for food according to their [selfish] desire and appetite.
19 Yes, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish [the food for] a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He did smite the rock so that waters gushed out and the streams overflowed; but can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people?
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was [full of] wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, His anger mounted up against Israel,
22 Because in God they believed not [they relied not on Him, they adhered not to Him], and they trusted not in His salvation (His power to save).
23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven;
24 And He rained down upon them manna to eat and gave them heaven’s grain.(E)
25 Everyone ate the bread of the mighty [man ate angels’ food]; God sent them meat in abundance.
26 He let forth the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by His power He guided the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them like the dust, and winged birds [quails] like the sand of the seas.(F)
28 And He let [the birds] fall in the midst of their camp, round about their tents.
29 So they ate and were well filled; He gave them what they craved and lusted after.
30 But scarce had they stilled their craving, and while their meat was yet in their mouths,(G)
31 The wrath of God came upon them and slew the strongest and sturdiest of them and smote down Israel’s chosen youth.
32 In spite of all this, they sinned still more, for they believed not in (relied not on and adhered not to Him for) His wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days He consumed like a breath [in emptiness, falsity, and futility] and their years in terror and sudden haste.
34 When He slew [some of] them, [the remainder] inquired after Him diligently, and they repented and sincerely sought God [for a time].
35 And they [earnestly] remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths and lied to Him with their tongues.
37 For their hearts were not right or sincere with Him, neither were they faithful and steadfast to His covenant.(H)
38 But He, full of [merciful] compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not; yes, many a time He turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath and indignation.
39 For He [earnestly] remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that goes and does not return.
40 How often they defied and rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
41 And time and again they turned back and tempted God, provoking and incensing the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not [seriously the miracles of the working of] His hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy,
43 How He wrought His miracles in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided]
44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink from them.
45 He sent swarms of [venomous] flies among them which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crops to the caterpillar and [the fruit of] their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with frost and [great chunks of] ice.
48 He [caused them to shut up their cattle or] gave them up also to the hail and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.(I)
49 He let loose upon them the fierceness of His anger, His wrath and indignation and distress, by sending [a mission of] angels of calamity and woe among them.
50 He leveled and made a straight path for His anger [to give it free course]; He did not spare [the Egyptian families] from death but gave their beasts over to the pestilence and the life [of their eldest] over to the plague.
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.(J)
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).(K)
62 He gave His people over also to the sword and was wroth with His heritage [Israel].(L)
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].(M)
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;(N)
71 From tending the ewes that had their young He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob His people, of Israel His inheritance.(O)
72 So [David] was their shepherd with an upright heart; he guided them by the discernment and skillfulness [which controlled] his hands.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
19 Then as if this were a little thing in Your eyes, O Lord God, You have spoken also of Your servant’s house in the far distant future. And this is the law for man, O Lord God!
20 What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God.
21 Because of Your promise and as Your own heart dictates, You have done all these astounding things to make Your servant know and understand.
22 Therefore You are great, O Lord God; for none is like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all [You have made] our ears to hear.
23 What [other] one nation on earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be a people for Himself and to make for Himself a name? You have done great and terrible things for Yourself and for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed and delivered for Yourself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.
24 And You have established for Yourself Your people Israel to be Your people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.
25 Now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word You have given as to Your servant and his house; and do as You have said,
26 And Your name [and presence] shall be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of Your servant David will be made firm before You.
27 For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant: I will build you a house. So Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You.
28 And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
29 Therefore now let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let [his] house be blessed forever.
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia (most of Greece), the Jews unitedly made an attack upon Paul and brought him before the judge’s seat,
13 Declaring, This fellow is advising and inducing and inciting people to worship God in violation of the [a]Law [of Rome and of Moses].
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth to reply, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of some misdemeanor or villainy, O Jews, I should have cause to bear with you and listen;
15 But since it is merely a question [of doctrine] about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I decline to be a judge of such matters and I have no intention of trying such cases.
16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
17 Then they [the Greeks] all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
18 Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [[b]Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.
19 Then they arrived in Ephesus, and [Paul] left the others there; but he himself entered the synagogue and discoursed and argued with the Jews.
20 When they asked him to remain for a longer time, he would not consent;
21 But when he was leaving them he said, I will return to you if God is willing, and he set sail from Ephesus.
22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and saluted the church [at Jerusalem], and then went down to Antioch.
23 After staying there some time, he left and went from place to place in an orderly journey through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, establishing the disciples and imparting new strength to them.
24 Meanwhile, there was a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, who came to Ephesus. He was a cultured and eloquent man, well versed and mighty in the Scriptures.
25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and burning with spiritual zeal, he spoke and taught diligently and accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he was acquainted only with the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak freely (fearlessly and boldly) in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him with them and expounded to him the way of God more definitely and accurately.
27 And when [Apollos] wished to cross to Achaia (most of Greece), the brethren wrote to the disciples there, urging and encouraging them to accept and welcome him heartily. When he arrived, he proved a great help to those who through grace (God’s unmerited favor and mercy) had believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ as Lord and Savior).
28 For with great power he refuted the Jews in public [discussions], showing and proving by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And [people] brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him.
23 And He [a]caught the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him, He asked him, Do you [[b]possibly] see anything?
24 And he looked up and said, I see people, but [they look] like trees, walking.
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again; and the man looked intently [that is, fixed his eyes on definite objects], and he was restored and saw everything distinctly [even what was [c]at a distance].
26 And He sent him away to his house, telling [him], Do not [even] enter the village [d]or tell anyone there.
27 And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He asked His disciples, Who do people say that I am?
28 And they answered [Him], John the Baptist; and others [say], Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.
29 And He asked them, But who do you yourselves say that I am? Peter replied to Him, You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
30 And He charged them sharply to tell no one about Him.
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must of necessity suffer many things and be tested and disapproved and rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be put to death, and after three days rise again [[e]from death].
32 And He said this freely (frankly, plainly, and explicitly, making it unmistakable). And Peter took Him [f]by the hand and led Him aside and then [facing Him] began to rebuke Him.
33 But turning around [His back to Peter] and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind Me, Satan! For you do not have a mind [g]intent on promoting what God wills, but what pleases men [you are not on God’s side, but that of men].
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation