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. |