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Psalms 78 - Good News Bible bible

Psalms 78

¹Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.

²I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,

³things we have heard and known, things that our ancestors told us.

⁴We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the LORD's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

⁵He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob. He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to their children,

⁶so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.

⁷In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments.

⁸They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

⁹The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law.

¹¹They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform.

¹²While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

¹³He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls.

¹⁴By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire.

¹⁵He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths.

¹⁶He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river.

¹⁷But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.

¹⁸They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.

¹⁹They spoke against God and said, "Can God supply food in the desert?

²⁰It is true that he struck the rock, and water flowed out in a torrent; but can he also provide us with bread and give his people meat?"

²¹And so the LORD was angry when he heard them; he attacked his people with fire, and his anger against them grew,

²²because they had no faith in him and did not believe that he would save them.

²³But he spoke to the sky above and commanded its doors to open;

²⁴he gave them grain from heaven, by sending down manna for them to eat.

²⁵So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.

²⁶He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind;

²⁷and to his people he sent down birds, as many as the grains of sand on the shore;

²⁸they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.

²⁹So the people ate and were satisfied; God gave them what they wanted.

³⁰But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating,

³¹when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.

³³So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.

³⁴Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.

³⁵They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.

³⁶But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.

³⁷They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

³⁸But God was merciful to his people. He forgave their sin and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and restrained his fury.

³⁹He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!

⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.

⁴²They forgot his great power and the day when he saved them from their enemies

⁴³and performed his mighty acts and miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴He turned the rivers into blood, and the Egyptians had no water to drink.

⁴⁵He sent flies among them, that tormented them, and frogs that ruined their land.

⁴⁶He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.

⁴⁷He killed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.

⁴⁸He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.

⁴⁹He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.

⁵⁰He did not restrain his anger or spare their lives, but killed them with a plague.

⁵¹He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.

⁵²Then he led his people out like a shepherd and guided them through the desert.

⁵³He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea came rolling over their enemies.

⁵⁴He brought them to his holy land, to the mountains which he himself conquered.

⁵⁵He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced; he divided their land among the tribes of Israel and gave their homes to his people.

⁵⁶But they rebelled against Almighty God and put him to the test. They did not obey his commandments,

⁵⁷but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.

⁵⁸They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.

⁵⁹God was angry when he saw it, so he rejected his people completely.

⁶⁰He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.

⁶¹He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box, the symbol of his power and glory.

⁶²He was angry with his own people and let them be killed by their enemies.

⁶³Young men were killed in war, and young women had no one to marry.

⁶⁴Priests died by violence, and their widows were not allowed to mourn.

⁶⁵At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep; he was like a strong man excited by wine.

⁶⁶He drove his enemies back in lasting and shameful defeat.

⁶⁷But he rejected the descendants of Joseph; he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸Instead he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.

⁶⁹There he built his Temple like his home in heaven; he made it firm like the earth itself, secure for all time.

⁷⁰He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures,

⁷¹where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.

⁷²David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill.