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Psalm 78

1  Hear my teaching, O my people; ♦︎
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2  I will open my mouth in a parable; ♦︎
   I will pour forth mysteries from of old,
3  Such as we have heard and known, ♦︎
   which our forebears have told us.
4  We will not hide from their children,
      but will recount to generations to come, ♦︎
   the praises of the Lord and his power
      and the wonderful works he has done.
5  He laid a solemn charge on Jacob
      and made it a law in Israel, ♦︎
   which he commanded them to teach their children,
6  That the generations to come might know,
      and the children yet unborn, ♦︎
   that they in turn might tell it to their children;
7  So that they might put their trust in God ♦︎
   and not forget the deeds of God,
      but keep his commandments,
8  And not be like their forebears,
      a stubborn and rebellious generation, ♦︎
   a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
      and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9  The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, ♦︎
   turned back in the day of battle;
10  They did not keep the covenant of God ♦︎
   and refused to walk in his law;
11  They forgot what he had done ♦︎
   and the wonders he had shown them.
12  For he did marvellous things in the sight of their forebears, ♦︎
   in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13  He divided the sea and let them pass through; ♦︎
   he made the waters stand still in a heap.
14  He led them with a cloud by day ♦︎
   and all the night through with a blaze of fire.
15  He split the hard rocks in the wilderness ♦︎
   and gave them drink as from the great deep.
16  He brought streams out of the rock ♦︎
   and made water gush out like rivers.
17  Yet for all this they sinned more against him ♦︎
   and defied the Most High in the wilderness.
18  They tested God in their hearts ♦︎
   and demanded food for their craving.
19  They spoke against God and said, ♦︎
   ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20  ‘He struck the rock indeed, so that the waters gushed out
      and the streams overflowed, ♦︎
   but can he give bread or provide meat for his people?’
21  When the Lord heard this, he was full of wrath; ♦︎
   a fire was kindled against Jacob
      and his anger went out against Israel,
22  For they had no faith in God ♦︎
   and put no trust in his saving help.
23  So he commanded the clouds above ♦︎
   and opened the doors of heaven.
24  He rained down upon them manna to eat ♦︎
   and gave them the grain of heaven.
25  So mortals ate the bread of angels; ♦︎
   he sent them food in plenty.
26  He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens ♦︎
   and led out the south wind by his might.
27  He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust ♦︎
   and winged fowl like the sand of the sea.
28  He let it fall in the midst of their camp ♦︎
   and round about their tents.
29  So they ate and were well filled, ♦︎
   for he gave them what they desired.
30  But they did not stop their craving; ♦︎
   their food was still in their mouths,
31  When the anger of God rose against them, ♦︎
   and slew their strongest men
      and felled the flower of Israel.
32  But for all this, they sinned yet more ♦︎
   and put no faith in his wonderful works.
33  So he brought their days to an end like a breath ♦︎
   and their years in sudden terror.
34  Whenever he slew them, they would seek him; ♦︎
   they would repent and earnestly search for God.
35  They remembered that God was their rock ♦︎
   and the Most High God their redeemer.
36  Yet they did but flatter him with their mouth ♦︎
   and dissembled with their tongue.
37  Their heart was not steadfast towards him, ♦︎
   neither were they faithful to his covenant.
38  But he was so merciful that he forgave their misdeeds
      and did not destroy them; ♦︎
   many a time he turned back his wrath
      and did not suffer his whole displeasure to be roused.
39  For he remembered that they were but flesh, ♦︎
   a wind that passes by and does not return.

Isaac and Abimelech

26Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines. ²The Lord appeared to Isaac^* and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you. ³Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring, ⁵because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.’

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister’; for he was afraid to say, ‘My wife,’ thinking, ‘or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance.’ ⁸When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah. ⁹So Abimelech called for Isaac, and said, ‘So she is your wife! Why then did you say, “She is my sister”?’ Isaac said to him, ‘Because I thought I might die because of her.’ ¹⁰Abimelech said, ‘What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.’ ¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, ‘Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.’

12 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, ¹³and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴He had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵(Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.) ¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us; you have become too powerful for us.’

17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names that his father had given them. ¹⁹But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, ²⁰the herders of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herders, saying, ‘The water is ours.’ So he called the well Esek,^* because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarrelled over that one also; so he called it Sitnah.^{* 22}He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth,^* saying, ‘Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’

23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba. ²⁴And that very night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant Abraham’s sake.’ ²⁵So he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷Isaac said to them, ‘Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?’ ²⁸They said, ‘We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you ²⁹so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ³⁰So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths; and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. ³²That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug, and said to him, ‘We have found water!’ ³³He called it Shibah;^* therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba^* to this day.

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.

18 Pray for us; we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honourably in all things. ¹⁹I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.

Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us^* that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Final Exhortation and Greetings

22 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^* bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. ²³I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he comes in time, he will be with me when I see you. ²⁴Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings. ²⁵Grace be with all of you.^*