Psalms Chapter 78 (Index)

001  Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

002  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

003  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

004  We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

005  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

006  That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

007  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

008  And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

009  The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

010  They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

011  And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had showed them.

012  Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

013  He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

014  In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

015  He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

016  He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

017  And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

018  And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

019  Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

020  Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

021  Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

022  Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

023  Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

024  And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

025  Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

026  He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

027  He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

028  And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

029  So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

030  They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

031  The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

032  For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

033  Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

034  When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God.

035  And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

036  Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

037  For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

038  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

039  For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

040  How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

041  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

042  They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

043  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

044  And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

045  He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

046  He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust.

047  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.

048  He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

049  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

050  He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

051  And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

052  But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

053  And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

054  And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

055  He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

056  Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

057  But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

058  For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

059  When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

060  So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

061  And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

062  He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

063  The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

064  Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

065  Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

066  And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

067  Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

068  But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

069  And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

070  He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

071  From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

072  So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.