78:1   Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.

78:2   I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,

78:3   things we have heard and known, things that our ancestors told us.

78:4   We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the LORD's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

78:5   He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob. He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to their children,

78:6   so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.

78:7   In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments.

78:8   They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

78:9   The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.

78:10   They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law.

78:11   They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform.

78:12   While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

78:13   He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls.

78:14   By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire.

78:15   He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths.

78:16   He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river.

78:17   But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.

78:18   They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.

78:19   They spoke against God and said, "Can God supply food in the desert?

78:20   It is true that he struck the rock, and water flowed out in a torrent; but can he also provide us with bread and give his people meat?"

78:21   And so the LORD was angry when he heard them; he attacked his people with fire, and his anger against them grew,

78:22   because they had no faith in him and did not believe that he would save them.

78:23   But he spoke to the sky above and commanded its doors to open;

78:24   he gave them grain from heaven, by sending down manna for them to eat.

78:25   So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.

78:26   He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind;

78:27   and to his people he sent down birds, as many as the grains of sand on the shore;

78:28   they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.

78:29   So the people ate and were satisfied; God gave them what they wanted.

78:30   But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating,

78:31   when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.

78:32   In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.

78:33   So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.

78:34   Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.

78:35   They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.

78:36   But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.

78:37   They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

78:38   But God was merciful to his people. He forgave their sin and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and restrained his fury.

78:39   He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.

78:40   How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!

78:41   Again and again they put God to the test and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.

78:42   They forgot his great power and the day when he saved them from their enemies

78:43   and performed his mighty acts and miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

78:44   He turned the rivers into blood, and the Egyptians had no water to drink.

78:45   He sent flies among them, that tormented them, and frogs that ruined their land.

78:46   He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.

78:47   He killed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.

78:48   He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.

78:49   He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.

78:50   He did not restrain his anger or spare their lives, but killed them with a plague.

78:51   He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.

78:52   Then he led his people out like a shepherd and guided them through the desert.

78:53   He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea came rolling over their enemies.

78:54   He brought them to his holy land, to the mountains which he himself conquered.

78:55   He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced; he divided their land among the tribes of Israel and gave their homes to his people.

78:56   But they rebelled against Almighty God and put him to the test. They did not obey his commandments,

78:57   but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.

78:58   They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.

78:59   God was angry when he saw it, so he rejected his people completely.

78:60   He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.

78:61   He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box, the symbol of his power and glory.

78:62   He was angry with his own people and let them be killed by their enemies.

78:63   Young men were killed in war, and young women had no one to marry.

78:64   Priests died by violence, and their widows were not allowed to mourn.

78:65   At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep; he was like a strong man excited by wine.

78:66   He drove his enemies back in lasting and shameful defeat.

78:67   But he rejected the descendants of Joseph; he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.

78:68   Instead he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.

78:69   There he built his Temple like his home in heaven; he made it firm like the earth itself, secure for all time.

78:70   He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures,

78:71   where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.

78:72   David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill.