Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
How Often They Rebelled
Heading
A maskil by Asaph.
A Solemn Call to Hear
1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
3 things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
5 He set up testimony for Jacob.
In Israel he established the law.
He commanded our fathers to make it known to their children.
6 Then the next generation would know it,
even the children not yet born.
They would rise up and tell their children.
7 Then they would put their confidence in God,
and they would not forget the deeds of God,
but they would keep his commands.
8 Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation that did not keep their hearts steadfast,
whose spirits were not faithful to God.
The Rebellion
9 The tribe of Ephraim, equipped and armed with bows,
deserted on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant, and they refused to walk in his law.
11 They forgot his deeds, the wonders he had shown to them.
God’s Goodness in the Wilderness
12 In the presence of their fathers he had performed a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and let them cross through it.
He made the water stand like a wall.
14 He led them with the cloud by day
and all through the night with light from the fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness,
and he let them drink water as plentiful as the deep sea.
16 He brought streams out of the rocky cliff.
He made water flow down like rivers.
Israel’s Rebellion in the Wilderness
17 But they continued to sin against him even more,
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their hearts by demanding food for their cravings.
19 Then they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able to set a table in the wilderness?
20 Sure, he struck the rock and water flowed out,
and stream beds overflowed,
but can he really give us bread?
Can he really supply meat for his people?”
God’s Judgment in the Wilderness
21 Then the Lord heard, and he showed his anger.
Fire broke out against Jacob,
and his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they did not believe in God,
and they did not trust in his salvation.
God’s Mercy in the Wilderness
23 Nevertheless, he gave a command to the skies above,
and he opened the doors of the heavens.
24 He rained down manna for them to eat,
and he gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Each of them ate the bread of the mighty ones.
He sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He sent out the east wind from the heavens,
and he led out the south wind by his power.
27 Then he rained meat down on them like dust,
and flying birds like sand on the seashore.
28 He made the birds fall down inside their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 Then they ate until they had more than enough,
for he had brought them what they craved.
30 They had not yet turned away from what they craved.
Their food was still in their mouths.
31 Then God’s anger rose up against them.
He killed the strongest among them.
He cut down the best young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they kept sinning,
and they did not believe in his wonders.
33 So he ended their days in frustration[a]
and their years in terror.
34 Whenever he struck them down, they would seek him.
Then they turned and sought God.
35 Then they remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36 But then they would deceive him with their mouths,
and with their tongues they would lie to him.
37 Their hearts were not committed to him,
and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was compassionate.
He atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them.
Many times he restrained his anger,
and he did not stir up his full wrath.
39 He still remembered that they were only flesh,
like a wind that goes by and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they grieved him in the wasteland!
41 They repeatedly put God to the test.
They provoked[b] the Holy One of Israel.
God’s Power Displayed in Egypt (Exodus 5–14)
42 They did not remember the power of his hand—
the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 when he displayed his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the region of Zoan,
44 when he turned their rivers to blood,
so they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent against them a swarm of flies that bit them.
Then he sent frogs that destroyed them.
46 Then he gave their crops to the grasshopper.
He gave what they worked for to the locust.
47 He killed their grapevines with hail,
and their sycamore fig trees with sleet.
48 Then he turned over their cattle to hail,
and their livestock to lightning bolts.
49 He sent against them his burning anger,
his wrath and indignation and distress
by sending destroying angels.[c]
50 He prepared a path for his anger.
He did not spare their lives from death,
but he delivered their lives to the plague.
51 Then he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruit of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led his people out like sheep.
He led them like a flock through the wilderness.
53 Then he guided them safely, so they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.
God’s Power Displayed in Canaan (Joshua)
54 Then he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountain which his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them.
He marked the boundaries of their inheritance,
and he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Rebellion in the Land (Judges)
56 But they tested him.
They rebelled against God Most High,
and they did not keep his testimonies.
57 Yes, they turned aside and were treacherous like their fathers.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58 Then they angered him with their high places,
and they made him jealous with their idols.
Judgment in the Land
59 God heard, and he showed his anger.
He completely rejected Israel.
60 So he abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelled among people.
61 So he sent the symbol of his strength[d] away into captivity.
He gave his splendor into the hand of the foe.
62 He also handed over his people to the sword,
and he showed his anger against his possession.
63 Fire consumed their best young men,
so their virgins were not praised in wedding songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows did not weep.
Mercy in the Land
65 Then the Lord awoke like someone who has been sleeping,
like a warrior overcome by wine.
66 Then he drove back his foes.
He gave them everlasting shame.
67 Then he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 But he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 Then he built up his sanctuary like the heights,
like the world that he established for all time.
70 Then he chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from following the mother sheep
to shepherd his people Jacob
and his possession Israel.
72 So he shepherded them with a sincere heart,
and with skillful hands he led them.
11 Be very careful so that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and ordinances and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 12 When you eat and are satisfied, and you build nice houses and move into them, 13 and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have prospers, 14 watch out so that your heart does not become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 15 Do not forget the Lord, who led you in the great and terrifying wilderness, where there were venomous snakes and scorpions, where the thirsty ground had no water, but the Lord made water come out of a flint rock for you. 16 Do not forget the Lord, who in the wilderness fed you manna, which your fathers had not known before, to humble you and to test you so that it would be good for you later on.
17 You might say in your heart, “My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.” 18 But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.
19 But if you ever do forget the Lord your God and you follow other gods, and if you serve them and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. 20 Just like the nations that the Lord is about to destroy in front of you, you also will perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
Receive and Do What God’s Word Says
16 Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.[a] 18 Just as he planned, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creations.
19 Remember this,[b] my dear brothers: Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. 20 Certainly, a man’s anger does not bring about what is right before God. 21 So after getting rid of all moral filthiness and overflowing wickedness, receive with humility the word planted in you. It is able to save your souls.
22 Be people who do what the word says, not people who only hear it. Such people are deceiving themselves. 23 In fact, if anyone hears the word and does not do what it says, he is like a man who carefully looks at his own natural face in a mirror. 24 Indeed, he carefully looks at himself; then, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looked like. 25 But the one who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues to do so—since he does not hear and forget but actually does what it says—that person will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone considers himself to be religious but deceives his own heart because he does not bridle his tongue, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The Lord’s Prayer
11 On another occasion, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven,[a] hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.[b] 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”[d]
Keep Praying
5 He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine who is on a journey has come to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7 And the one inside replies, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you.’ 8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his bold persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
11 “What father among you, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.