78:1 Maschil of Asaph. 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 Marvelous 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 a 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 cleaved 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 food for
their desire.
78:19 Yes, 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 wroth: 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 corn 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 desire: 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 inquired early after God.
78:35 And they remembered that God [was] their rock, and the
high God their redeemer.
78:36 Nevertheless they flattered 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: yes, 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 Yes, 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 floods,
that they could not drink.
78:45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured
them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
78:46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their
labor 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 first-born 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 wroth, 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 wroth
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 awaked as one out of 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 skillfulness of his hands.
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