Psalm 78 - New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹ My people, hear my teaching;^(A)
listen to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth with a parable;^(B)
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
³ things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.^(C)
4 We will not hide them from their descendants;^(D)
we will tell the next generation^(E)
the praiseworthy deeds^(F) of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders^(G) he has done.
⁵ He decreed statutes^(H) for Jacob^(I)
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
⁶ so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,^(J)
and they in turn would tell their children.
⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget^(K) his deeds
but would keep his commands.^(L)
8 They would not be like their ancestors^(M)—
a stubborn^(N) and rebellious^(O) generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹ The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,^(P)
turned back on the day of battle;^(Q)
10 they did not keep God’s covenant^(R)
and refused to live by his law.^(S)
11 They forgot what he had done,^(T)
the wonders he had shown them.
¹² He did miracles^(U) in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt,^(V) in the region of Zoan.^(W)
13 He divided the sea^(X) and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.^(Y)
14 He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.^(Z)
15 He split the rocks^(AA) in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
¹⁶ he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin^(AB) against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
¹⁸ They willfully put God to the test^(AC)
by demanding the food they craved.^(AD)
19 They spoke against God;^(AE)
they said, “Can God really
spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ True, he struck the rock,
and water gushed out,^(AF)
streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat^(AG) for his people?”
²¹ When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out^(AH) against Jacob,
and his wrath rose against Israel,
²² for they did not believe in God
or trust^(AI) in his deliverance.
²³ Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;^(AJ)
24 he rained down manna^(AK) for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Human beings ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶ He let loose the east wind^(AL) from the heavens
and by his power made the south wind blow.
²⁷ He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds^(AM) like sand on the seashore.
²⁸ He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.
²⁹ They ate till they were gorged—^(AN)
he had given them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they turned from what they craved,
even while the food was still in their mouths,^(AO)
31 God’s anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest^(AP) among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(AQ)
in spite of his wonders,^(AR) they did not believe.^(AS)
33 So he ended their days in futility^(AT)
and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(AU) him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,^(AV)
that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(AW)
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(AX)
lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷ their hearts were not loyal^(AY) to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;^(AZ)
he forgave^(BA) their iniquities^(BB)
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger^(BC)
and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,^(BD)
a passing breeze^(BE) that does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled^(BF) against him in the wilderness^(BG)
and grieved him^(BH) in the wasteland!
⁴¹ Again and again they put God to the test;^(BI)
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(BJ)
42 They did not remember^(BK) his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(BL)
43 the day he displayed his signs^(BM) in Egypt,
his wonders^(BN) in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their river into blood;^(BO)
they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies^(BP) that devoured them,
and frogs^(BQ) that devastated them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(BR)
their produce to the locust.^(BS)
47 He destroyed their vines with hail^(BT)
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock^(BU) to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(BV)
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.^(BW)
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(BX)
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(BY)
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;^(BZ)
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³ He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed^(CA) their enemies.^(CB)
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand^(CC) had taken.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations^(CD) before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(CE)
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

⁵⁶ But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
⁵⁷ Like their ancestors^(CF) they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.^(CG)
58 They angered him^(CH) with their high places;^(CI)
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.^(CJ)
59 When God heard^(CK) them, he was furious;^(CL)
he rejected Israel^(CM) completely.
⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,^(CN)
the tent he had set up among humans.^(CO)
61 He sent the ark of his might^(CP) into captivity,^(CQ)
his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword;^(CR)
he was furious with his inheritance.^(CS)
63 Fire consumed^(CT) their young men,
and their young women had no wedding songs;^(CU)
64 their priests were put to the sword,^(CV)
and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,^(CW)
as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
⁶⁶ He beat back his enemies;
he put them to everlasting shame.^(CX)
67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;^(CY)
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,^(CZ)
Mount Zion,^(DA) which he loved.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary^(DB) like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David^(DC) his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
⁷¹ from tending the sheep^(DD) he brought him
to be the shepherd^(DE) of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
⁷² And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;^(DF)
with skillful hands he led them.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 78:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term

Cross references

1. Psalm 78:1 : Isa 51:4; 55:3
2. Psalm 78:2 : S Ps 49:4; S Mt 13:35*
3. Psalm 78:3 : S Jdg 6:13
4. Psalm 78:4 : S Dt 11:19
5. Psalm 78:4 : S Dt 32:7; S Ps 71:18
6. Psalm 78:4 : Ps 26:7; 71:17
7. Psalm 78:4 : S Job 5:9
8. Psalm 78:5 : Ps 19:7; 81:5
9. Psalm 78:5 : Ps 147:19
10. Psalm 78:6 : S Ps 22:31
11. Psalm 78:7 : S Dt 6:12
12. Psalm 78:7 : S Dt 5:29
13. Psalm 78:8 : S 2Ch 30:7
14. Psalm 78:8 : S Ex 32:9
15. Psalm 78:8 : S Ex 23:21; S Dt 21:18; Isa 30:9; 65:2
16. Psalm 78:9 : ver 57; 1Ch 12:2; Hos 7:16
17. Psalm 78:9 : S Jdg 20:39
18. Psalm 78:10 : S Jos 7:11; S 2Ki 17:15
19. Psalm 78:10 : S Ex 16:28; S Jer 11:8
20. Psalm 78:11 : Ps 106:13
21. Psalm 78:12 : S Ne 9:17; Ps 106:22
22. Psalm 78:12 : Ex 11:9
23. Psalm 78:12 : S Nu 13:22
24. Psalm 78:13 : S Ex 14:21; Ps 66:6; 136:13
25. Psalm 78:13 : S Ex 14:22; S 15:8
26. Psalm 78:14 : Ex 13:21; Ps 105:39
27. Psalm 78:15 : S Nu 20:11; 1Co 10:4
28. Psalm 78:17 : ver 32, 40; Dt 9:22; Isa 30:1; 63:10; Heb 3:16
29. Psalm 78:18 : S Ex 17:2; 1Co 10:9
30. Psalm 78:18 : S Ex 15:24; Nu 11:4
31. Psalm 78:19 : Nu 21:5
32. Psalm 78:20 : S Nu 20:11; S Isa 35:6
33. Psalm 78:20 : Nu 11:18
34. Psalm 78:21 : S Nu 11:1
35. Psalm 78:22 : S Dt 1:32; Heb 3:19
36. Psalm 78:23 : Ge 7:11; S 2Ki 7:2
37. Psalm 78:24 : Ex 16:4; Jn 6:31*
38. Psalm 78:26 : S Nu 11:31
39. Psalm 78:27 : S Ex 16:13; Nu 11:31
40. Psalm 78:29 : S Nu 11:20
41. Psalm 78:30 : S Nu 11:33
42. Psalm 78:31 : Isa 10:16
43. Psalm 78:32 : S ver 17
44. Psalm 78:32 : ver 11
45. Psalm 78:32 : ver 22
46. Psalm 78:33 : Nu 14:29, 35
47. Psalm 78:34 : S Dt 4:29; Hos 5:15
48. Psalm 78:35 : S Ge 49:24
49. Psalm 78:35 : S Dt 9:26
50. Psalm 78:36 : Eze 33:31
51. Psalm 78:37 : ver 8; Ac 8:21
52. Psalm 78:38 : S Ex 34:6
53. Psalm 78:38 : Isa 1:25; 27:9; 48:10; Da 11:35
54. Psalm 78:38 : Ps 25:11; 85:2
55. Psalm 78:38 : S Job 9:13; S Isa 30:18
56. Psalm 78:39 : S Ge 6:3; S Isa 29:5
57. Psalm 78:39 : S Job 7:7; Jas 4:14
58. Psalm 78:40 : S Ex 23:21
59. Psalm 78:40 : Ps 95:8; 106:14
60. Psalm 78:40 : Eph 4:30
61. Psalm 78:41 : S Ex 17:2
62. Psalm 78:41 : S 2Ki 19:22; Ps 71:22; 89:18
63. Psalm 78:42 : S Jdg 3:7; S Ne 9:17
64. Psalm 78:42 : S Ps 27:11
65. Psalm 78:43 : Ex 10:1
66. Psalm 78:43 : S Ex 3:20
67. Psalm 78:44 : Ex 7:20-21; Ps 105:29
68. Psalm 78:45 : Ex 8:24; Ps 105:31
69. Psalm 78:45 : S Ex 8:2, 6
70. Psalm 78:46 : Na 3:15
71. Psalm 78:46 : S Ex 10:13
72. Psalm 78:47 : Ex 9:23; Ps 105:32; 147:17
73. Psalm 78:48 : Ex 9:25
74. Psalm 78:49 : Ex 15:7
75. Psalm 78:49 : S Ge 19:13; 1Co 10:10
76. Psalm 78:51 : S Ex 12:12; Ps 135:8
77. Psalm 78:51 : Ps 105:23; 106:22
78. Psalm 78:52 : S Job 21:11; S Ps 28:9; 77:20
79. Psalm 78:53 : S Ex 14:28
80. Psalm 78:53 : Ex 15:7; Ps 106:10
81. Psalm 78:54 : Ps 44:3
82. Psalm 78:55 : Ps 44:2
83. Psalm 78:55 : S Dt 1:38; S Jos 13:7; Ac 13:19
84. Psalm 78:57 : S 2Ch 30:7; Eze 20:27
85. Psalm 78:57 : S ver 9
86. Psalm 78:58 : S Jdg 2:12
87. Psalm 78:58 : S Lev 26:30
88. Psalm 78:58 : Ex 20:4; S Dt 5:8; 32:21
89. Psalm 78:59 : Ps 55:19
90. Psalm 78:59 : S Lev 26:28; S Nu 32:14
91. Psalm 78:59 : S Dt 32:19
92. Psalm 78:60 : S Jos 18:1
93. Psalm 78:60 : Eze 8:6
94. Psalm 78:61 : Ps 132:8
95. Psalm 78:61 : S 1Sa 4:17
96. Psalm 78:62 : S Dt 28:25
97. Psalm 78:62 : S 1Sa 10:1
98. Psalm 78:63 : S Nu 11:1
99. Psalm 78:63 : S 1Ki 4:32; Jer 7:34; 16:9; 25:10
100. Psalm 78:64 : 1Sa 4:17
101. Psalm 78:65 : Ps 44:23
102. Psalm 78:66 : 1Sa 5:6
103. Psalm 78:67 : Jer 7:15; Hos 9:13; 12:1
104. Psalm 78:68 : S Nu 1:7; Ps 108:8
105. Psalm 78:68 : S Ex 15:17; S Ps 68:16
106. Psalm 78:69 : S Ps 15:1
107. Psalm 78:70 : S 1Sa 16:1
108. Psalm 78:71 : S Ge 37:2
109. Psalm 78:71 : S Ps 28:9
110. Psalm 78:72 : S Ge 17:1