Psalm 78 (UST) · Opened

1A song of Asaph. My friends, listen to what I am going to teach you; pay careful attention to what I will say.A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.

2I am going to give you some sayings that wise people have said. They will be sayings about things that happened long ago, things that were difficult to understand.I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

3These are things that we have heard and known previously, things that our parents and grandparents told us.that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

4We will tell these things to our children, but we will also tell our grandchildren to praise Yahweh for his power and the glorious things that he has done.We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.

5He gave requirements and instructions to the Israelites, those who are descended from Jacob, and he told our ancestors to teach them to their children.For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

6He commanded this so that their children would also know them and so that they would teach them to their own children.that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

7In that way, they also would trust in God and would not forget the things that he has done; instead, they would obey his commandments.that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

8They would not be like their ancestors, who were very stubborn and kept rebelling against God; they did not continue firmly trusting in God, and they did not worship him alone.Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9The soldiers of the tribe of Ephraim had bows and arrows, but they ran away from their enemies on the day that they fought with their enemies.The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle.

10They did not do what they had agreed with God that they would do; they refused to obey his laws.They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law.

11They forgot what he had done; they forgot about the miracles that they had seen him perform.They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.

12While our ancestors were watching, God performed miracles in the area around the city of Zoan in Egypt.He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

13Then he caused the Sea of Reeds to divide, causing the water on each side to pile up like a wall, with the result that our ancestors walked through it on dry ground.He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

14He led them by a bright cloud during the day and by a fiery light during the night.He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

15He split rocks open in the wilderness and gave to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

16He caused a stream of water to flow from the rock; the water flowed like a river.He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

17But our ancestors continued to sin against God; in the desert they rebelled against the one who is greater than any other spirit being.But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18By demanding that God give them the food that they desired, they tried to find out if he would always do what they requested him to do.They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

19They insulted God by saying,“God surely cannot supply food for us here in this desert.They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

20It is surely true that Moses struck the rock, and God made a huge amount of water gush out, but we, his people,{ doubt} that he can also provide bread and meat for us.”When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

21So when Yahweh heard that, he became very angry, and he sent a fire to burn up some of his Israelite people.Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,

22He did that because they did not trust in him, and they did not believe that he would rescue them.because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

23But God spoke to the sky above them and commanded it to open like a door,Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.

24and then food fell down like rain, food that they named“manna.” God gave them grain from heaven.He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

25So the people ate the food that angels eat. God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

26Later, he caused the wind to blow from the east, and by his power he also sent wind from the south.He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.

27The wind brought birds to eat which fell like rain. They were as uncountable as the grains of sand on the seashore.He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

28God caused those birds to fall in the middle of their camp. There were birds all around their tents.He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.

29So the people{ cooked the birds and} ate the meat; their stomachs were full because God had given them what they wanted.So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved.

30But they had not yet eaten all that they wanted,Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,

31when God angrily killed some of their strongest men. He even sent young Israelite men to their graves.God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

32In spite of all this, the people continued to sin; in spite of all the miracles that God had performed, they still did not trust that he would take care of them.In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

33So he shortened their lives so they seemed to only be a few days or like they were gone as quickly as a breath of air, and he terrified them during even those few years.So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

34Whenever God caused some of the Israelites to die, the others would repent; they would be sorry and seriously ask God to save them.When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

35They would remember that God was like a huge rock on which they would be safe, and that he, who was greater than any other spirit being, was the one who would buy them back.And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36But they tried to trick God by lying to him.But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

37They were not loyal to him; they did not keep the promises between God and them.Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

38But God acted mercifully toward his people. He forgave them for having sinned and did not get rid of them. Many times he decided not to become angry with them and did not furiously punish them.And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.

39He remembered that they were only humans who die, humans who disappear as quickly as a wind that blows by and then is gone.He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

40Many times our ancestors rebelled against God in the wilderness and made him very sad.How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!

41Many times they did evil things to find out if they could do those things without God punishing them. They frequently caused the holy God whom the Israelites worship to become sad.Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42They did not remember how powerfully he had acted, and they{ forgot} about the time when he rescued them from their enemies.They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

43They forgot about all the wonderfully powerful things he did near Zoan in Egypt.when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

44He turned the rivers of{ Egypt} to blood, so that the people could not drink their streams.He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink.

45He sent swarms of flies among the people of Egypt that bit them, and he sent frogs that destroyed everything.He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

46He gave their crops to the locusts. He let swarming locusts eat everything they had worked for.He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47He killed their grape vines with hail, and killed their sycamore trees with frost.He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

48He sent a terrible thunderstorm with hail to kill all their domestic animals.He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49Because God was fiercely angry with the people of Egypt, he caused them to be very distressed. The disasters that struck them were like a group of angels that destroyed everything.He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.

50He let himself be angry with them, and he did not prevent them from dying; he sent a serious illness that killed many of them.He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.

51In that plague he caused all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt to die.He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.

52Then he led his people out of Egypt like a shepherd leads his sheep, and he guided them like a flock in the desert.He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

53He led them safely, and they were not afraid, but their enemies drowned in the sea.He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

54Later God used his power to bring the Israelite people to the land he had set apart, to this hill country that he had taken for himself.He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired.

55He drove out the people groups as the Israelites advanced; he distributed the land for each tribe to possess as their own, and he settled the tribes of Israel in the homes of those peoples.He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56But the Israelites defied the God who is greater than all other spirit beings and disobeyed him to see what he would do. They did not obey what he had required them to do.But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.

57They turned away and were unfaithful, just as their ancestors had been; they were as unreliable as a bow that does not shoot straight.They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.

58They made God angry by worshiping at shrines on the hilltops, and they made him jealous by worshiping carved idols.They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

59When God saw what they were doing, he became very angry and completely rejected the Israelite people.On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.

60He stopped living at Shiloh, the place where he had set up his tent and lived among people.He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.

61He let enemies capture the sacred chest which showed how strong and glorious he was.He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.

62He let enemies kill his people in battle, because he was very angry with the people who belonged to him.He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage.

63Fire destroyed the young men, and no one sang wedding songs for the young women.Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

64Enemies killed the priests in battle, and the wives they left behind were not able to mourn for them.His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

65Then the Lord acted as though he had been sleeping and had woken up, like a warrior who becomes alert after drinking wine.Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

66He drove his enemies back and disgraced them forever.He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.

67He did not choose the descendants of Joseph to be the leading tribe, and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim.

68Instead he chose the tribe of Judah whose capital is on Mount Zion, which he loves.But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

69He had them build his temple there, high up like the heavens, and he established it to last as long as the earth.He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.

70He chose David, who served him, and took him away from tending the sheep.He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

71He took David from caring for the mother sheep and their lambs and appointed him to lead the people of Israel, the people who belonged to God.from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance.

72David led them with a sincere and devoted heart, and he guided them with great skill.So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

Psalm 78

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

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Psalm 78

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

You’ve read Psalm 78

Go Deeper