Psalms 78:4-48

⁴We will tell these things to our children LIT, and we will also tell to our grandchildren about Yahweh's power and the glorious/great things that he has done.

⁵He gave laws and commandments to the Israeli people, those who are the descendants of Jacob DOU, and he told our ancestors to teach them to their children

⁶in order that their children would also know them and then they would teach them to their children.

⁷In that way, they also would trust in God, and not forget the things that he has done; instead, they would obey his commandments.

⁸They would not be like their ancestors, who were very stubborn and kept rebelling against God; they did not continue firmly trusting in God, and they did not worship only him.

⁹The soldiers of the tribe of Ephraim had bows and arrows but they ran away from their enemies on the day that they fought a battle with their enemies.

¹⁰They did not do what they had agreed with God that they would do; they refused to obey his laws.

¹¹They forgot what he had done; they forgot about the miracles that they had seen him perform.

¹²While our ancestors were watching, God performed miracles in the area around Zoan city in Egypt.

¹³Then he caused the Red Sea to divide, causing the water on each side to pile up like a wall, with the result that our ancestors walked through it on dry ground.

¹⁴He led them by a bright cloud during the day and by a fiery light during the night.

¹⁵He split rocks open in the desert, giving to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.

¹⁶He caused a stream of water to flow from the rock; the water flowed like a river DOU.

¹⁷But our ancestors continued to sin against God; in the desert they rebelled against the one who is greater than any other god.

¹⁸By demanding that God give them the food that they desired, they tried to find out if he would always do what they requested him to do.

¹⁹They insulted God by saying, “We don't think he can supply food for us here in this desert!

²⁰It is true that he struck the rock, with the result that water gushed/flowed out, but ◄can he also provide bread and meat for us, his people?/we doubt that he can also provide bread and meat for us, his people.►” RHQ

²¹So, when Yahweh heard that, he became very angry, and he sent a fire to burn up some of his Israeli people. MTY, DOU

²²He did that because they did not trust in him, and they did not believe that he would rescue them.

²³But God spoke to the sky above them; he commanded it to open like a door,

²⁴and then food fell down like rain, food which they named ❛manna❜; God gave them grain from ◄heaven/the sky►.

²⁵So the people ate the food that angels eat, and God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.

²⁶Later, he caused the wind to blow from the east, and by his power he also sent wind from the south,

²⁷and the wind brought birds which were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.

²⁸God caused those birds to fall dead in the middle of ◄their camp►/the area where the people had put up their tents. There were dead birds all around their tents.

²⁹So the people cooked the birds and ate the meat and their stomachs were full, because God had given them what they wanted.

³⁰But before they had eaten all that they wanted, and while they were still eating it,

³¹God was still very angry with them, and he caused their strongest men to die; he got rid of many of the finest young Israeli men.

³²In spite of all that, the people continued to sin; in spite of all the miracles that God had performed, they still did not trust that he would take care of them.

³³So, he caused their lives to end as quickly as a puff of wind ends; they died when disasters suddenly struck them.

³⁴When God caused some of them to die, the others turned to God; they repented and earnestly asked God to save them.

³⁵They remembered that God is like a huge rock ledge under which they would be safe MET, and that he, who was greater than any other god, is the one who protected/rescued them.

³⁶But they tried to deceive God by what they said MTY; their words MTY were all lies.

³⁷They were not loyal to him; they disregarded/ignored the agreement that he had made with them.

³⁸But God was merciful to his people. He forgave them for having sinned and did not get rid of them. Many times he refrained from becoming angry with them and restrained from furiously/severely punishing them MTY.

³⁹He remembered/considered that they were only humans who die; they disappear quickly SIM, like a wind that blows by and then is gone.

⁴⁰Many times our ancestors rebelled against God in the desert and caused him to become very sad.

⁴¹Many times they did evil things, to find out if they could do those things without God punishing them. They frequently caused the holy God of Israel to become disgusted/sad.

⁴²They forgot about his great power, and they ◄forgot/did not think► about the time when he rescued them from their enemies.

⁴³They forgot about when he performed many miracles in the area near Zoan city in Egypt.

⁴⁴He caused the Nile River (OR, their sources of water) to become red like blood, with the result that the people of Egypt had no water to drink.

⁴⁵He sent among the people of Egypt swarms of flies that bit them, and he sent frogs that ate up everything.

⁴⁶He sent locusts to eat their crops and the other things that grew in their fields.

⁴⁷He sent hail that destroyed the grapevines, and sent frost that ruined the figs.

⁴⁸He sent hail that killed their cattle and sent lightning that killed their sheep and cows.