Psalms 78
The psalmist urges the people to listen to God's law and remember the great things he has done for them, as their fathers have told them. However, the people have forgotten God's benefits and have not kept his covenant, instead provoking him to anger in the desert and tempting him with their desires. Despite their sin, God provided for them, sending manna and quail to eat, but they continued to sin and were not trustworthy with his miracles. God was merciful and pardoned their sins, but they continued to provoke him, and he eventually rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh and delivered his people into captivity. The psalmist concludes by noting that God chose the tribe of Judah and David as his servant to lead his people.
The understanding of Asaph. O my people, attend to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouthI will open my mouth in parables. I will speak about concepts that are from the beginningWe have heard and known such great things, as our fathers have described to usThese things have not been hidden from their sons in any generation: declaring the praises of the Lord, and his virtues, and the wonders that he has doneAnd he has received testimony with Jacob, and he has set a law within Israel. Such great things, he has commanded our fathers, so as to make these things known to their sonsso that another generation might know them, and so that the sons, who will be born and who will grow up, shall describe them to their sonsSo then, may they put their hope in God, and may they not forget the works of God, and may they seek his commandmentsMay they not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation: a generation that does not straighten their heart and whose spirit is not trustworthy with GodThe sons of Ephraim, who bend and shoot the bow, have been turned back in the day of battleThey have not kept the covenant of God. And they were not willing to walk in his lawAnd they have been forgetful of his benefits, and of his miracle, which he revealed to themHe performed miracles in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of TanisHe broke the sea and he led them through. And he stationed the waters, as if in a vesselAnd he led them with a cloud by day, and with illumination by fire throughout the nightHe broke through the rock in the wasteland, and he gave them to drink, as if from the great abyssHe brought forth water from the rock, and he conducted the waters, as if they were riversAnd yet, they continued to sin against him. In a waterless place, they provoked the Most High with resentmentAnd they tempted God in their hearts, by asking for food according to their desiresAnd they spoke badly about God. They said, "Would God be able to prepare a table in the desertHe struck the rock, and so waters flowed and the torrents flooded, but would even he be able to provide bread, or provide a table, for his people?Therefore, the Lord heard, and he was dismayed, and a fire was kindled within Jacob, and an anger ascended into IsraelFor they neither put their trust in God, nor did they hope in his salvationAnd he commanded the clouds from above, and he opened the doors of heavenAnd he rained down manna upon them to eat, and he gave them the bread of heavenMan ate the bread of Angels. He sent them provisions in abundanceHe transferred the south wind from heaven, and, in his virtue, he brought in the Southwest windAnd he rained down flesh upon them, as if it were dust, and feathered birds, as if they were the sand of the seaAnd they fell down in the midst of their camp, encircling their tabernaclesAnd they ate until they were greatly satisfied, and he brought to them according to their desiresThey were not cheated out of what they wanted. Their food was still in their mouthand then the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones among them, and he impeded the elect of IsraelIn all these things, they continued to sin, and they were not trustworthy with his miraclesAnd their days faded away into vanity, and their years with hasteWhen he slew them, then they sought him. And they returned, and they drew near to him in the early morningAnd they were mindful that God is their helper and that the Most High God is their redeemerAnd they chose him with their mouth, and then they lied to him with their tongueFor their heart was not upright with him, nor have they been living faithfully in his covenantYet he is merciful, and he will pardon their sins. And he will not destroy them. And he has abundantly turned aside his own wrath. And he did not enflame his wrath entirelyAnd he remembered that they are flesh: with a spirit that goes forth and does not returnHow often did they provoke him in the desert and stir him to wrath in a waterless placeAnd they turned back and tempted God, and they exasperated the Holy One of IsraelThey did not remember his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of the one troubling themThus, he positioned his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of TanisAnd he turned their rivers into blood, along with their rain showers, so that they could not drinkHe sent among them the common fly, and it devoured them, and the frog, and it scattered themAnd he gave up their fruits to mold and their labors to the locustAnd he slew their vineyards with hail and their mulberry trees with severe frostAnd he delivered their cattle to the hail and their possessions to fireAnd he sent the wrath of his indignation among them: indignation and wrath and tribulation, sent forth by evil angelsHe made way for the path of his anger. He did not spare their souls from death. And he enclosed their beasts of burden in deathAnd he struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt: the first-fruits of all their labor in the tabernacles of HamAnd he took away his own people like sheep, and he led them through the wilderness like a flockAnd he led them out in hope, and they did not fear. And the sea covered their enemiesAnd he led them to the mountain of his sanctification: the mountain that his right hand had acquired. And he cast out the Gentiles before their face. And he divided their land by lot to them, with a line of distributionAnd he caused the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernaclesYet they tempted and aggravated God Most High, and they did not keep his testamentsAnd they turned themselves aside, and they did not serve the covenant. In the same manner as their fathers, they were turned backwards, like a crooked bowThey impelled him to anger on their hills, and they provoked him to rivalry with their graven imagesGod listened, and he spurned them, and he reduced Israel greatly, almost to nothingAnd he rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh, his tabernacle where he had dwelt among menAnd he delivered their virtue into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of the enemyAnd he enclosed his people with the sword, and he spurned his inheritanceFire consumed their young men, and their virgins were not lamentedTheir priests fell by the sword, and their widows did not weepAnd the Lord was awakened, as if out of sleep, and like a powerful man impaired by wineAnd he struck his enemies on the back. He gave them over to everlasting disgraceAnd he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and he did not choose the tribe of EphraimBut he chose the tribe of Judah: mount Zion, which he lovedAnd he built up his sanctuary, like a single-horned beast, in the land that he founded for all agesAnd he chose his servant David, and he took him from the flocks of the sheep: he received him from following the ewes with their youngin order to pasture Jacob his servant and Israel his inheritanceAnd he fed them with the innocence of his heart. And he led them with the understanding of his hands
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