Psalms 78:1-39

¹Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

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

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

⁴We will not hide them from their children, Shewing to the generation to come The praises of the Lord, and his strength, And his wonderful works that he hath done.

⁵For 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:

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

⁷That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments:

⁸And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation; A generation that set not their heart aright, And whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

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

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

¹¹And forgat his works, And his wonders that he had shewed them.

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

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

¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.

¹⁵He clave the rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink as out of the great depths.

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

¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him By provoking the most High in the wilderness.

¹⁸And they tempted God in their heart By asking meat for their lust.

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

²⁰Behold, 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?

²¹Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: So a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also came up against Israel;

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

²³Though he had commanded the clouds from above, And opened the doors of heaven,

²⁴And had rained down manna upon them to eat, And had given them of the corn of heaven.

²⁵Man did eat angels’ food: He sent them meat to the full.

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

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

²⁸And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations.

²⁹So they did eat, and were well filled: For he gave them their own desire;

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

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

³²For all this they sinned still, And believed not for his wondrous works.

³³Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in trouble.

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

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

³⁶Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, And they lied unto him with their tongues.

³⁷For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

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

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