Psalms 78
1Give ear, O my people, to my law: 1 Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 1
2I will open my mouth in a parable: 1 I will utter dark sayings of old: 1
3Which we have heard and known, 1 And our fathers have told us. 1
4We will not hide them from their children, 1 Shewing to the generation to come 1 The praises of the Lord, and his strength, 1 And his wonderful works that he hath done. 1
5For he established a testimony in Jacob, 1 And appointed a law in Israel, 1 Which he commanded our fathers, 1 That they should make them known to their children: 1
6That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; 1 Who should arise and declare them to their children: 1
7That they might set their hope in God, 1 And not forget the works of God, 1 But keep his commandments: 1
8And might not be as their fathers, 1 A stubborn and rebellious generation; 1 A generation that set not their heart aright, 1 And whose spirit was not stedfast with God. 1
9The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, 1 Turned back in the day of battle. 1
10They kept not the covenant of God, 1 And refused to walk in his law; 1
11And forgat his works, 1 And his wonders that he had shewed them. 1
12Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, 1 In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 1
13He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; 1 And he made the waters to stand as a heap. 1
14In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, 1 And all the night with a light of fire. 1
15He clave the rocks in the wilderness, 1 And gave them drink as out of the great depths. 1
16He brought streams also out of the rock, 1 And caused waters to run down like rivers. 1
17And they sinned yet more against him 1 By provoking the most High in the wilderness. 1
18And they tempted God in their heart 1 By asking meat for their lust. 1
19Yea, they spake against God; they said, 1 Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 1
20Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, 1 And the streams overflowed; 1 Can he give bread also? 1 Can he provide flesh for his people? 1
21Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: 1 So a fire was kindled against Jacob, 1 And anger also came up against Israel; 1
22Because they believed not in God, 1 And trusted not in his salvation: 1
23Though he had commanded the clouds from above, 1 And opened the doors of heaven, 1
24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, 1 And had given them of the corn of heaven. 1
25Man did eat angels’ food: 1 He sent them meat to the full. 1
26He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: 1 And by his power he brought in the south wind. 1
27He rained flesh also upon them as dust, 1 And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 1
28And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, 1 Round about their habitations. 1
29So they did eat, and were well filled: 1 For he gave them their own desire; 1
30They were not estranged from their lust. 1 But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 1
31The wrath of God came upon them, 1 And slew the fattest of them, 1 And smote down the chosen men of Israel. 1
32For all this they sinned still, 1 And believed not for his wondrous works. 1
33Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, 1 And their years in trouble. 1
34When he slew them, then they sought him: 1 And they returned and inquired early after God. 1
35And they remembered that God was their rock, 1 And the high God their redeemer. 1
36Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, 1 And they lied unto him with their tongues. 1
37For their heart was not right with him, 1 Neither were they stedfast in his covenant. 1
38But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: 1 Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, 1 And did not stir up all his wrath. 1
39For he remembered that they were but flesh; 1 A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 1
40How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, 1 And grieve him in the desert! 1
41Yea, they turned back and tempted God, 1 And limited the Holy One of Israel. 1
42They remembered not his hand: 1 Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. 1
43How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, 1 And his wonders in the field of Zoan: 1
44And had turned their rivers into blood; 1 And their floods, that they could not drink. 1
45He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; 1 And frogs, which destroyed them. 1
46He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, 1 And their labour unto the locust. 1
47He destroyed their vines with hail, 1 And their sycomore trees with frost. 1
48He gave up their cattle also to the hail, 1 And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 1
49He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, 1 Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, 1 By sending evil angels among them. 1
50He made a way to his anger; 1 He spared not their soul from death, 1 But gave their life over to the pestilence; 1
51And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; 1 The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: 1
52But made his own people to go forth like sheep, 1 And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 1
53And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: 1 But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 1
54And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, 1 Even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. 1
55He cast out the heathen also before them, 1 And divided them an inheritance by line, 1 And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 1
56Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, 1 And kept not his testimonies: 1
57But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: 1 They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 1
58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, 1 And moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 1
59When God heard this, he was wroth, 1 And greatly abhorred Israel: 1
60So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, 1 The tent which he placed among men; 1
61And delivered his strength into captivity, 1 And his glory into the enemy’s hand. 1
62He gave his people over also unto the sword; 1 And was wroth with his inheritance. 1
63The fire consumed their young men; 1 And their maidens were not given to marriage. 1
64Their priests fell by the sword; 1 And their widows made no lamentation. 1
65Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, 1 And like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. 1
66And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: 1 He put them to a perpetual reproach. 1
67Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, 1 And chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 1
68But chose the tribe of Judah, 1 The mount Zion which he loved. 1
69And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, 1 Like the earth which he hath established for ever. 1
70He chose David also his servant, 1 And took him from the sheepfolds: 1
71From following the ewes great with young he brought him 1 To feed Jacob his people, 1 And Israel his inheritance. 1
72So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; 1 And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.