RWebster - Psalms - 78

78:1  Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

78:3  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

78:4  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.

78:5  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:

78:6  That the generation to come might know them, even the children who should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

78:7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

78:8  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 steadfast with God.

78:9  The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

78:10  They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

78:11  And forgot his works, and his wonders that he had shown them.

78:12  Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

78:13  He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

78:14  In the day time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

78:15  He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

78:16  He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

78:17  And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

78:18  And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

78:19  Yea, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

78:20  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?

78:21  Therefore the LORD heard this, and was full of wrath: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

78:22  Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

78:23  Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

78:24  And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the grain of heaven.

78:25  Man ate angels’ food: he sent them food to the full.

78:26  He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

78:27  He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

78:28  And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.

78:29  So they ate, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

78:30  They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

78:31  The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

78:32  For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

78:33  Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

78:34  When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

78:35  And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

78:36  Nevertheless they would flatter him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.

78:37  For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

78:38  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

78:39  For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

78:40  How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

78:41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

78:42  They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

78:43  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

78:44  And had turned their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they could not drink.

78:45  He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

78:46  He gave also their increase to the caterpiller, and their labour to the locust.

78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.

78:48  He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

78:49  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them .

78:50  He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

78:51  And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

78:52  But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

78:53  And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

78:54  And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

78:55  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.

78:56  Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

78:57  But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

78:58  For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

78:59  When God heard this, he was filled with wrath, and greatly abhorred Israel:

78:60  So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

78:61  And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.

78:62  He gave over his people also to the sword; and was filled with wrath with his inheritance.

78:63  The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

78:64  Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

78:65  Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

78:66  And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

78:67  Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

78:68  But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

78:69  And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

78:70  He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheep folds:

78:71  From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

78:72  So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.