Psalm 78

Common English Bible

⁹ The children of Ephraim, armed with bows,
    retreated on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They didn’t keep God’s covenant;
    they refused to walk in his Instruction.
¹¹ They forgot God’s deeds
    as well as the wondrous works he showed them.
¹² But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence—
    in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
¹³ God split the sea and led them through,
    making the waters stand up like a wall.
¹⁴ God led them with the cloud by day;
    by the lightning all through the night.
¹⁵ God split rocks open in the wilderness,
    gave them plenty to drink—
    as if from the deep itself!
¹⁶ God made streams flow from the rock,
    made water run like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against God,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their hearts,
    demanded food for their stomachs.
¹⁹ They spoke against God!
    “Can God set a dinner table in the wilderness?” they asked.
²⁰ “True, God struck the rock
    and water gushed and streams flowed,
        but can he give bread too?
        Can he provide meat for his people?”
²¹ When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
        A fire was ignited against Jacob;
    wrath also burned against Israel
²²         because they had no faith in God,
        because they didn’t trust his saving power.
²³ God gave orders to the skies above,
    opened heaven’s doors,
²⁴     and rained manna on them so they could eat.
        He gave them the very grain of heaven!
²⁵ Each person ate the bread of the powerful ones;^[b]
    God sent provisions to satisfy them.
²⁶ God set the east wind moving across the skies
    and drove the south wind by his strength.
²⁷ He rained meat on them as if it were dust in the air;
    he rained as many birds as the sand on the seashore!
²⁸ God brought the birds down in the center of their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹ So they ate and were completely satisfied;
    God gave them exactly what they had craved.
³⁰ But they didn’t stop craving—
    even with the food still in their mouths!
³¹ So God’s anger came up against them:
    he killed the most hearty of them;
        he cut down Israel’s youth in their prime.
³² But in spite of all that, they kept sinning
    and had no faith in God’s wondrous works.
³³ So God brought their days to an end,
    like a puff of air,
    and their years in total ruin.
³⁴ But whenever God killed them, they went after him!
    They would turn and earnestly search for God.
³⁵ They would remember that God was their rock,
    that the Most High was their redeemer.
³⁶ But they were just flattering him with lip service.
    They were lying to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their hearts weren’t firmly set on him;
    they weren’t faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ But God, being compassionate,
    kept forgiving their sins,
    kept avoiding destruction;
    he took back his anger so many times,
    wouldn’t stir up all his wrath!
³⁹ God kept remembering that they were just flesh,
    just breath that passes and doesn’t come back.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness
    and distressed him in the desert!
⁴¹ Time and time again they tested God,
    provoking the holy one of Israel.
⁴² They didn’t remember God’s power—
    the day when he saved them from the enemy;
⁴³     how God performed his signs in Egypt,
    his marvelous works in the field of Zoan.
⁴⁴ God turned their rivers into blood;
    they couldn’t drink from their own streams.
⁴⁵ God sent swarms against them to eat them up,
    frogs to destroy them.
⁴⁶ God handed over their crops to caterpillars,
    their land’s produce to locusts.
⁴⁷ God killed their vines with hail,
    their sycamore trees with frost.
⁴⁸ God delivered their cattle over to disease,^[c]
    their herds to plagues.
⁴⁹ God unleashed his burning anger against them—
    fury, indignation, distress,
    a troop of evil messengers.
⁵⁰ God blazed a path for his wrath.
    He didn’t save them from death,
    but delivered their lives over to disease.
⁵¹ God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males;
    in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy.
⁵² God led his own people out like sheep,
    guiding them like a flock in the wilderness.
⁵³ God led them in safety—they were not afraid!
    But the sea engulfed their enemies!
⁵⁴ God brought them to his holy territory,
    to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired.
⁵⁵ God drove out the nations before them
        and apportioned property for them;
    he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents.

⁵⁶ But they tested and defied the Most High God;
    they didn’t pay attention to his warnings.
⁵⁷ They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors;
    they twisted away like a defective bow.
⁵⁸ They angered God with their many shrines;
    they angered him with their idols.
⁵⁹ God heard and became enraged;
    he rejected Israel utterly.
⁶⁰ God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh,
    the tent where he had lived with humans.
⁶¹ God let his power be held captive,
    let his glory go to the enemy’s hand.
⁶² God delivered his people up to the sword;
    he was enraged at his own possession.
⁶³ Fire devoured his young men,
    and his young women had no wedding songs.
⁶⁴ God’s priests were killed by the sword,
    and his widows couldn’t even cry.
⁶⁵ But then my Lord woke up—
    as if he’d been sleeping!
Like a warrior shaking off wine,
⁶⁶     God beat back his foes;
    he made them an everlasting disgrace.

⁶⁷ God rejected the tent of Joseph
    and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim.
⁶⁸ Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah,
    the mountain of Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven
    and like the earth, which he established forever.
⁷⁰ And God chose David, his servant,
    taking him from the sheepfolds.
⁷¹ God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes
    to shepherd his people Jacob,
    to shepherd his inheritance, Israel.
⁷² David shepherded them with a heart of integrity;
    he led them with the skill of his hands.