Tehillim 78 - Chapter 78 - Psalm 78

Tehillim 78 - Tehillim translated into English

1. A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my Torah; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles concerning ancient times.
3. Of that which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the latter generation the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done.
5. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Torah 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, the children who should be born; who should arise and tell 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 that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation whose heart was not constant, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10. They did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk according to his Torah.
11. And forgot his works, and his wonders that he had shown them.
12. He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13. He parted the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters stand like a heap.
14. And in the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15. He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as from the deep.
16. He made streams come from the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17. And they sinned yet more against him, rebelling against the most High in the wilderness.
18. And they tempted God in their heart by asking food for their craving.
19. And they spoke against God; they said, Can God spread a table in the wilderness?.
20. Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? Can he provide meat for his people?.
21. Therefore the Lord heard this, and was angry; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;.
22. Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation.
23. Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,.
24. And rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the grain of heaven.
25. Man ate the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance.
26. He caused an east wind to blow in the sky; and by his power he brought on the south wind.
27. And he rained meat upon them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea;.
28. And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.
29. So they ate, and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire;.
30. They were not yet sated with their lust. But while their food was still in their mouths,.
31. The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and struck down the young men of Israel.
32. For all this they still sinned, and did not believe in his wondrous works.
33. Therefore he ended their days with emptiness, and their years with trouble.
34. When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and earnestly sought God.
35. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
36. Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.
37. For their heart was not constant with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.
38. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he turned away his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away, and does not come again.
40. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!.
41. And they turned back and tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel.
42. They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he saved them from the enemy.
43. How he had done his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan;.
44. And had turned their rivers into blood; so that they could not drink of their streams.
45. He sent swarms of gnats among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46. He gave also their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
48. He gave over 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 path for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;.
51. And struck all the firstborn in Egypt; the first of their strength in the tents 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 did not fear; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54. And he brought them to his holy border, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
55. He cast out nations before them, and apportioned to them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the most high God, and did not keep 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 carved idols.
59. When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly loathed Israel;.
60. So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent where he made his dwelling among men;.
61. And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
62. He gave his people over also to the sword; and was angry with his inheritance.
63. The fire consumed their young men; and their virgins had no marriage songs.
64. Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66. And he struck his enemies backward; he put upon them an everlasting reproach.
67. And he rejected the tent 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 the high heavens, like the earth which he has established for ever.
70. And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;.
71. From following the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72. So he tended them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them with skilful hand.