78:1  A contemplation by Asaph. Hear my law, my people. Turn 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 Yahweh, His strength, and his wondrous 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, even the children who should be born; Who should arise and tell their children,

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

78:8  And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that didn't make their hearts loyal, Whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

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

78:10  They didn't keep God's covenant, And refused to walk in his law.

78:11  They forgot his doings, His wondrous works that he had shown them.

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

78:13  He split the sea, and caused them to pass through; He made the waters stand as a heap.

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

78:15  He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

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

78:17  Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

78:18  They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

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 waters gushed out, Streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?"

78:21  Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also went up against Israel,

78:22  Because they didn't believe in God, And didn't trust in his salvation.

78:23  Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven.

78:24  He rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky.

78:25  Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

78:26  He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.

78:27  He rained also flesh on them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas.

78:28  He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations.

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

78:30  They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

78:31  When the anger of God went up against them, Killed some of the fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel.

78:32  For all this they still sinned, And didn't believe in his wondrous works.

78:33  Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror.

78:34  When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.

78:35  They remembered that God was their rock, The Most High God their redeemer.

78:36  But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.

78:37  For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.

78:38  But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn't destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, And didn't stir up all his wrath.

78:39  He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

78:40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, And grieved him in the desert!

78:41  They turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

78:42  They didn't remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

78:43  How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan,

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

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

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

78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost.

78:48  He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

78:49  He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil.

78:50  He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,

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

78:52  But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

78:53  He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

78:54  He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

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

78:56  Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn't keep his testimonies;

78:57  But turned back, and dealt treacherously 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 engraved images.

78:59  When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel;

78:60  So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;

78:61  And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand.

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

78:63  Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song.

78:64  Their priests fell by the sword, And their widows couldn't weep.

78:65  Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

78:66  He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.

78:67  Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim,

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

78:69  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 have their young, He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, And Israel, his inheritance.

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