# Psalm 78 A Maskil of Asaph. 
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1. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 
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2. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 
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3. things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 
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4. We 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. 
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5. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 
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6. that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 
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7. so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 
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8. and 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. 
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9. The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. 
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10. They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. 
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11. They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them. 
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12. In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 
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13. He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. 
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14. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. 
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15. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. 
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16. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. 
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17. Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 
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18. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. 
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19. They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 
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20. He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?” 
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21. Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, 
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22. because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. 
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23. Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 
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24. and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 
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25. Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. 
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26. He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; 
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27. he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; 
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28. he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. 
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29. And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. 
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30. But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, 
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31. the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel. 
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32. In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. 
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33. So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. 
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34. When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly. 
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35. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. 
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36. But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. 
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37. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. 
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38. Yet 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. 
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39. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. 
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40. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! 
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41. They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 
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42. They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe, 
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43. when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan. 
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44. He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. 
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45. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. 
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46. He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust. 
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47. He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost. 
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48. He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts. 
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49. He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. 
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50. He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. 
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51. He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham. 
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52. Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 
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53. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 
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54. And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. 
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55. He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 
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56. Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, 
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57. but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow. 
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58. For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols. 
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59. When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. 
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60. He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, 
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61. and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. 
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62. He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage. 
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63. Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song. 
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64. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. 
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65. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. 
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66. And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame. 
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67. He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 
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68. but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. 
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69. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. 
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70. He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; 
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71. from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. 
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72. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. 

(ESV)