Psalm 78 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Tell the Coming Generation

Psa 78:1A Maskil[fn] of Asaph.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

Psa 78:2I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,

Psa 78:3things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.

Psa 78:4We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

Psa 78:5

Psa 78:5He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,

Psa 78:6

Psa 78:6that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,

Psa 78:7

Psa 78:7so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;

Psa 78:8

Psa 78:8and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psa 78:9

Psa 78:9The Ephraimites, armed with[fn] the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.

Psa 78:10

Psa 78:10They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.

Psa 78:11

Psa 78:11They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.

Psa 78:12

Psa 78:12In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

Psa 78:13

Psa 78:13He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.

Psa 78:14

Psa 78:14In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.

Psa 78:15

Psa 78:15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

Psa 78:16

Psa 78:16He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Psa 78:17

Psa 78:17Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

Psa 78:18

Psa 78:18They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.

Psa 78:19

Psa 78:19They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

Psa 78:20

Psa 78:20He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”

Psa 78:21

Psa 78:21Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,

Psa 78:22

Psa 78:22because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.

Psa 78:23

Psa 78:23Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,

Psa 78:24

Psa 78:24and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.

Psa 78:25

Psa 78:25Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.

Psa 78:26

Psa 78:26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;

Psa 78:27

Psa 78:27he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;

Psa 78:28

Psa 78:28he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.

Psa 78:29

Psa 78:29And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.

Psa 78:30

Psa 78:30But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,

Psa 78:31

Psa 78:31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.

Psa 78:32

Psa 78:32In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.

Psa 78:33

Psa 78:33So he made their days vanish like[fn] a breath,[fn]
and their years in terror.

Psa 78:34

Psa 78:34When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.

Psa 78:35

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

Psa 78:36

Psa 78:36But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.

Psa 78:37

Psa 78:37Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.

Psa 78:38

Psa 78:38Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.

Psa 78:39

Psa 78:39He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.

Psa 78:40

Psa 78:40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!

Psa 78:41

Psa 78:41They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Psa 78:42

Psa 78:42They did not remember his power[fn]
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

Psa 78:43

Psa 78:43when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

Psa 78:44

Psa 78:44He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.

Psa 78:45

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

Psa 78:46

Psa 78:46He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

Psa 78:47

Psa 78:47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.

Psa 78:48

Psa 78:48He gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.

Psa 78:49

Psa 78:49He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.

Psa 78:50

Psa 78:50He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.

Psa 78:51

Psa 78:51He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

Psa 78:52

Psa 78:52Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

Psa 78:53

Psa 78:53He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

Psa 78:54

Psa 78:54And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.

Psa 78:55

Psa 78:55He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

Psa 78:56

Psa 78:56Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,

Psa 78:57

Psa 78:57but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.

Psa 78:58

Psa 78:58For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

Psa 78:59

Psa 78:59When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.

Psa 78:60

Psa 78:60He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

Psa 78:61

Psa 78:61and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.

Psa 78:62

Psa 78:62He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.

Psa 78:63

Psa 78:63Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.

Psa 78:64

Psa 78:64Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.

Psa 78:65

Psa 78:65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.

Psa 78:66

Psa 78:66And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.

Psa 78:67

Psa 78:67He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

Psa 78:68

Psa 78:68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.

Psa 78:69

Psa 78:69He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.

Psa 78:70

Psa 78:70He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;

Psa 78:71

Psa 78:71from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.

Psa 78:72

Psa 78:72With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(78:1)

Probably a musical or liturgical term

(78:9)

Hebrew armed and shooting

(78:33)

Hebrew in

(78:33)

Or vapor

(78:42)

Hebrew hand

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