Psalm 78:36-72

English Standard Version

³⁶But they ^(A)flattered him with their mouths;
    they ^(B)lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷Their ^(C)heart was not ^(D)steadfast toward him;
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸Yet he, being ^(E)compassionate,
    ^(F)atoned for their iniquity
    and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
    and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹He ^(G)remembered that they were but ^(H)flesh,
    ^(I)a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰How often they ^(J)rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and ^(K)grieved him in ^(L)the desert!
⁴¹They ^(M)tested God again and again
    and provoked ^(N)the Holy One of Israel.
⁴²They ^(O)did not remember his power^[a]
    or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³^(P)when he performed his ^(Q)signs in Egypt
    and his ^(R)marvels in ^(S)the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴He ^(T)turned their rivers to blood,
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of ^(U)flies, which devoured them,
    and ^(V)frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶He gave their crops to ^(W)the destroying locust
    and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with ^(X)hail
    and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸He gave over their ^(Y)cattle to the hail
    and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹He let loose on them his burning anger,
    wrath, indignation, and distress,
    a company of ^(Z)destroying angels.
⁵⁰He made a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death,
    but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹He struck down every ^(AA)firstborn in Egypt,
    the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of ^(AB)Ham.
⁵²Then he led out his people ^(AC)like sheep
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³^(AD)He led them in safety, so that they ^(AE)were not afraid,
    but ^(AF)the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴And he brought them to his ^(AG)holy land,
    ^(AH)to the mountain which his right hand had ^(AI)won.
⁵⁵He ^(AJ)drove out nations before them;
    he ^(AK)apportioned them for a possession
    and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they ^(AL)tested and ^(AM)rebelled against the Most High God
    and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
    they twisted like ^(AN)a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸For they ^(AO)provoked him to anger with their ^(AP)high places;
    they ^(AQ)moved him to jealousy with their ^(AR)idols.
⁵⁹When God heard, he was full of ^(AS)wrath,
    and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰He ^(AT)forsook his dwelling at ^(AU)Shiloh,
    the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹and delivered his ^(AV)power to captivity,
    his ^(AW)glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶²He ^(AX)gave his people over to the sword
    and ^(AY)vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³^(AZ)Fire devoured their young men,
    and their young women had no ^(BA)marriage song.
⁶⁴Their ^(BB)priests fell by the sword,
    and their ^(BC)widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵Then the Lord ^(BD)awoke as from sleep,
    like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶And he ^(BE)put his adversaries to rout;
    he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of ^(BF)Joseph;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he ^(BG)loves.
⁶⁹He ^(BH)built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
    like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰He ^(BI)chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹from ^(BJ)following the nursing ewes he brought him
    to ^(BK)shepherd Jacob his people,
    Israel his ^(BL)inheritance.
⁷²With ^(BM)upright heart he shepherded them
    and ^(BN)guided them with his skillful hand.