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Psalm 78

God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude

A Maskil of Asaph.
¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
   that our ancestors have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children;
   we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done.

⁵ He established a decree in Jacob,
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
   to teach to their children;
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
⁷   so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their ancestors,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with^* the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done,
   and the miracles that he had shown them.
¹² In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all night long with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks open in the wilderness,
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock,
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying,
   ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
   or provide meat for his people?’

²¹ Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob,
   his anger mounted against Israel,
²² because they had no faith in God,
   and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above,
   and opened the doors of heaven;
²⁴ he rained down on them manna to eat,
   and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
   he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ he rained flesh upon them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ he let them fall within their camp,
   all around their dwellings.
²⁹ And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them
   and he killed the strongest of them,
   and laid low the flower of Israel.

³² In spite of all this they still sinned;
   they did not believe in his wonders.
³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
   and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and does not come again.