Psalm 78
Maschil of
Asaph.
1 Give ear,
O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the
words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter
dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers
have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing
to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
and his strength, and his wonderful works that he
hath done.
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:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even
the children which should be born; who should arise
and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not
forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and
rebellious generation; a generation that set not
their heart aright, and whose spirit was not
stedfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying
bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to
walk in his law;
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had
shewed them.
12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their
fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass
through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and
all the night with a light of fire.
15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave
them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and
caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking
the most High in the wilderness.
18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking
meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God
furnish a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed
out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread
also? can he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so
a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also
came up against Israel;
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not
in his salvation:
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above,
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and
had given them of the corn of heaven.
25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to
the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and
by his power he brought in the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and
feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he
gave them their own desire;
30 They were not estranged from their lust. But
while their meat was yet in their mouths,
31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the
fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of
Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not
for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
and their years in trouble.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they
returned and inquired early after God.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and
the high God their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their
mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither
were they stedfast in his covenant.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their
iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time
turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all
his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a
wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
and grieve him in the desert!
41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and
limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he
delivered them from the enemy.
43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his
wonders in the field of Zoan:
44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their
floods, that they could not drink.
45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which
devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller,
and their labour unto the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their
sycomore trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and
their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil
angels among them.
50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their
soul from death, but gave their life over to the
pestilence;
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief
of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared
not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to the border of his
sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right
hand had purchased.
55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and
divided them an inheritance by line, and made the
tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God,
and kept not his testimonies:
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like
their fathers: they were turned aside like a
deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high
places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven
images.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly
abhorred Israel:
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the
tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and
his glory into the enemy's hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and
was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their
maidens were not given to marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows
made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and
like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he
put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and
chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion
which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,
like the earth which he hath established for ever.
70 He chose David also his servant, and took him
from the sheepfolds:
71 From following the ewes great with young he
brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his
inheritance.
72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his
heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his
hands.
~~~~~~ Psalm 78 Psalm 79 >
Psalms
- The Book of David
The Book of Psalms which contains Psalm 78 is also referred to
as the Book of David. David reigned over Judah and Israel
was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel. King
David is credited with the authorship of many of the Psalms
and the collection is therefore often referred to as the
Book of David. |