78:1   (A special psalm by Asaph.) My friends, I beg you to listen as I teach.

78:2   I will give instruction and explain the mystery of what happened long ago.

78:3   These are things we learned from our ancestors,

78:4   and we will tell them to the next generation. We won't keep secret the glorious deeds and the mighty miracles of the LORD.

78:5   God gave his Law to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel. And he told our ancestors to teach their children,

78:6   so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next.

78:7   Then they would trust God and obey his teachings, without forgetting anything God had done.

78:8   They would be different from their ancestors, who were stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful to God.

78:9   The warriors from Ephraim were armed with arrows, but they ran away when the battle began.

78:10   They broke their agreement with God, and they turned their backs on his teaching.

78:11   They forgot all he had done, even the mighty miracles

78:12   he did for their ancestors near Zoan in Egypt.

78:13   God made a path in the sea and piled up the water as he led them across.

78:14   He guided them during the day with a cloud, and each night he led them with a flaming fire.

78:15   God made water flow from rocks he split open in the desert, and his people drank freely, as though from a lake.

78:16   He made streams gush out like rivers from rocks.

78:17   But in the desert, the people of God Most High kept sinning and rebelling.

78:18   They stubbornly tested God and demanded from him what they wanted to eat.

78:19   They challenged God by saying, "Can God provide food out here in the desert?

78:20   It's true God struck the rock and water gushed out like a river, but can he give his people bread and meat?"

78:21   When the LORD heard this, he was angry and furious with Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel.

78:22   They had refused to trust him, and they had doubted his saving power.

78:23   But God gave a command to the clouds, and he opened the doors in the skies.

78:24   From heaven he sent grain that they called manna.

78:25   He gave them more than enough, and each one of them ate this special food.

78:26   God's mighty power brought a strong wind from the southeast,

78:27   and it brought birds that covered the ground, like sand on the beach.

78:28   Then God made the birds fall in the camp of his people near their tents.

78:29   God gave his people all they wanted, and each of them ate until they were full.

78:30   But before they had swallowed the last bite,

78:31   God became angry and killed the strongest and best from the families of Israel.

78:32   But the rest kept on sinning and would not trust God's miracles.

78:33   So he cut their lives short and made them terrified.

78:34   After he killed some of them, the others turned to him with all their hearts.

78:35   They remembered God Most High, the mighty rock that kept them safe.

78:36   But they tried to flatter God, and they told him lies;

78:37   they were unfaithful and broke their promises.

78:38   Yet God was kind. He kept forgiving their sins and didn't destroy them. He often became angry, but never lost his temper.

78:39   God remembered that they were made of flesh and were like a wind that blows once and then dies down.

78:40   While they were in the desert, they often rebelled and made God sad.

78:41   They kept testing him and caused terrible pain for the Holy One of Israel.

78:42   They forgot about his power and how he had rescued them from their enemies.

78:43   God showed them all kinds of wonderful miracles near Zoan in Egypt.

78:44   He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood, and no one could drink from the streams.

78:45   He sent swarms of flies to pester the Egyptians, and he sent frogs to cause them trouble.

78:46   God let worms and grasshoppers eat their crops.

78:47   He destroyed their grapevines and their fig trees with hail and floods.

78:48   Then he killed their cattle with hail and their other animals with lightning.

78:49   God was so angry and furious that he went into a rage and caused them great trouble by sending swarms of destroying angels.

78:50   God gave in to his anger and slaughtered them in a terrible way.

78:51   He killed the first-born son of each Egyptian family.

78:52   Then God led his people out of Egypt and guided them in the desert like a flock of sheep.

78:53   He led them safely along, and they were not afraid, but their enemies drowned in the sea.

78:54   God brought his people to the sacred mountain that he had taken by his own power.

78:55   He made nations run from the tribes of Israel, and he let the tribes take over their land.

78:56   But the people tested God Most High, and they refused to obey his laws.

78:57   They were as unfaithful as their ancestors, and they were as crooked as a twisted arrow.

78:58   God demanded all their love, but they made him angry by worshiping idols.

78:59   So God became furious and completely rejected the people of Israel.

78:60   Then he deserted his home at Shiloh, where he lived here on earth.

78:61   He let enemies capture the sacred chest and let them dishonor him.

78:62   God took out his anger on his chosen ones and let them be killed by enemy swords.

78:63   Fire destroyed the young men, and the young women were left with no one to marry.

78:64   Priests died violent deaths, but their widows were not allowed to mourn.

78:65   Finally the Lord woke up, and he shouted like a drunken soldier.

78:66   God scattered his enemies and made them ashamed forever.

78:67   Then the Lord decided not to make his home with Joseph's descendants in Ephraim.

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

78:69   There he built his temple as lofty as the mountains and as solid as the earth that he had made to last forever.

78:70   The Lord God chose David to be his servant and took him from tending sheep

78:71   and from caring for lambs. Then God made him the leader of Israel, his own nation.

78:72   David treated the people fairly and guided them with wisdom.