Psalms 78:5-40

⁵He set up a testimony in Jacob, a law he appointed in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to make known to their children,

⁶that the next generation should know it, that the children yet to be born should arise and tell their children;

⁷that in God they might put their confidence, and not forget God's works; but that they might keep his commandments,

⁸and not be like their ancestors, a generation defiant and stubborn, a generation with heart unsteady, and spirit unfaithful towards God.

⁹Ephraimites, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.

¹⁰They did not keep God's covenant, they refused to walk in his law.

¹¹They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.

¹²He did wonders before their ancestors in the country of Zoan in Egypt.

¹³Through the sea which he split he brought them, making waters stand up like a heap;

¹⁴he led them by day with a cloud, all the night with a light of fire.

¹⁵From the rocks which he split in the wilderness, he gave them to drink as of ocean's abundance.

¹⁶He brought streams out of the rock, and made water run down like rivers.

¹⁷Yet they still went on sinning against him, they defied the Most High in the desert.

¹⁸They wilfully challenged God, demanding the food that they longed for.

¹⁹“Is God able,” such was their challenge, “to spread in the desert a table?

²⁰From the rock that he struck there gushed water, and torrents that overflowed; but can he also give bread, or provide his people with meat?”

²¹When the Lord heard this, he was furious, and fire was kindled on Jacob, anger flared up against Israel.

²²For they put no trust in God, no confidence in his help.

²³So he summoned the clouds above; and, opening the doors of heaven,

²⁴he rained manna upon them for food, and grain of heaven he gave them.

²⁵Everyone ate the bread of angels; he sent them food to the full.

²⁶He launched the east wind in the heavens, and guided the south by his power.

²⁷He rained meat upon them like dust, winged bird like the sand of the sea.

²⁸In the midst of their camp he dropped it, all around their tents.

²⁹They ate and were more than filled; he had brought them the thing they desired.

³⁰But the thing they desired became loathsome: while their food was still in their mouths,

³¹the wrath of God rose against them. He slew the stoutest amongst them, and laid low the young men of Israel.

³²Yet for all this they sinned yet more, and refused to believe in his wonders.

³³So he ended their days in a breath, and their years in sudden dismay.

³⁴When he slew them, then they sought after him, they turned and sought God with diligence.

³⁵They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.

³⁶But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

³⁷Their heart was not steady with him, they were faithless to his covenant.

³⁸But he is full of pity: he pardons sin and destroys not. Often he turns his anger away, without stirring his wrath at all.

³⁹So he remembered that they were but flesh, breath that passes and does not return.

⁴⁰But how often they rebelled in the desert, and caused him grief in the wilderness,