78:1  A Contemplation of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,

78:3  Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.

78:4  We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

78:5  For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;

78:6  That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,

78:7  That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;

78:8  And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

78:9  The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.

78:10  They did not keep the covenant of God;
They refused to walk in His law,

78:11  And forgot His works
And His wonders that He had shown them.

78:12  Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

78:13  He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

78:14  In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.

78:15  He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

78:16  He also brought streams out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.

78:17  But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.

78:18  And they tested God in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.

78:19  Yes, they spoke against God:
They said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

78:20  Behold, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Can He provide meat for His people?'

78:21  Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel,

78:22  Because they did not believe in God,
And did not trust in His salvation.

78:23  Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,

78:24  Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven.

78:25  Men ate angels' food;
He sent them food to the full.

78:26  He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.

78:27  He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;

78:28  And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.

78:29  So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.

78:30  They were not deprived of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,

78:31  The wrath of God came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.

78:32  In spite of this they still sinned,
And did not believe in His wondrous works.

78:33  Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.

78:34  When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.

78:35  Then they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.

78:36  Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;

78:37  For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

78:38  But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;

78:39  For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.

78:40  How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!

78:41  Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.

78:42  They did not remember His power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

78:43  When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;

78:44  Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.

78:45  He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.

78:46  He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.

78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.

78:48  He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning.

78:49  He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.

78:50  He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life over to the plague,

78:51  And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.

78:52  But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

78:53  And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

78:54  And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.

78:55  He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

78:56  Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,

78:57  But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

78:58  For they provoked Him to anger with their high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

78:59  When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,

78:60  So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,

78:61  And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.

78:62  He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.

78:63  The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.

78:64  Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.

78:65  Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.

78:66  And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.

78:67  Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

78:68  But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loved.

78:69  And He built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.

78:70  He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;

78:71  From following the ewes that had young He brought him,
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.

78:72  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.