Psalms 78

God’s guidance of his people in spite of their unfaithfulness.

I will open my mouth in a parable;

Which we have heard and known,

We will not hide them from their children,

For he established a testimony in Jacob,

That the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born;

That they might set their hope in God,

And might not be as their fathers,

The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,

They kept not the covenant of God,

And they forgat his doings,

Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,

He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through;

In the day-time also he led them with a cloud,

He clave rocks in the wilderness,

He brought streams also out of the rock,

Yet went they on still to sin against him,

And they tempted God in their heart

Yea, they spake against God;

Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out,

Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth;

Because they believed not in God,

Yet he commanded the skies above,

And he rained down manna upon them to eat,

Man did eat the bread of the mighty:

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;

He rained flesh also upon them as the dust,

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

So they did eat, and were well filled;

They were not estranged from that which they desired,

When the anger of God went up against them,

For all this they sinned still,

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,

When he slew them, then they inquired after him;

And they remembered that God was their rock,

But they flattered him with their mouth,

For their heart was not right with him,

But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:

And he remembered that they were but flesh,

How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness,

And they turned again and tempted God,

They remembered not his hand,

How he set his signs in Egypt,

And turned their rivers into blood,

He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;

He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,

He destroyed their vines with hail,

He gave over their cattle also to the hail,

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,

He made a path for his anger;

And smote all the first-born in Egypt,

But he led forth his own people like sheep,

And he led them safely, so that they feared not;

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,

He drove out the nations also before them,

Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,

But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers:

For they provoked him to anger with their high places,

When God heard this, he was wroth,

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

And delivered his strength into captivity,

He gave his people over also unto the sword,

Fire devoured their young men;

Their priests fell by the sword;

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,

And he smote his adversaries backward:

Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph,

But chose the tribe of Judah,

And he built his sanctuary like the heights,

He chose David also his servant,

From following the ewes that have their young he brought him,

So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,