78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,

78:3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.

78:4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done.

78:5 For 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;

78:6 That the generation to come might know [them], even the children that should be born; Who should arise and tell [them] to their children,

78:7 That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments,

78:8 And 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.

78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle.

78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, And refused to walk in his law;

78:11 And they forgat his doings, And his wondrous works that he had showed them.

78:12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

78:13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.

78:14 In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.

78:15 He clave rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

78:16 He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.

78:17 Yet went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

78:18 And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

78:19 Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

78:20 Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?

78:21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel;

78:22 Because they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation.

78:23 Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven;

78:24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.

78:25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.

78:26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind.

78:27 He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

78:28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations.

78:29 So they did eat, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire.

78:30 They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths,

78:31 When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel.

78:32 For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works.

78:33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror.

78:34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly.

78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer.

78:36 But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue.

78:37 For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.

78:38 But he, being merciful, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath.

78:39 And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

78:40 How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!

78:41 And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

78:42 They remember not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

78:43 How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan,

78:44 And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.

78:45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.

78:46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust.

78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycomore- trees with frost.

78:48 He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil.

78:50 He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,

78:51 And smote all the first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

78:52 But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

78:53 And he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

78:54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten.

78:55 He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

78:56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And kept not his testimonies;

78:57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers: They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

78:58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

78:59 When God heard [this], he was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel;

78:60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;

78:61 And delivered his strength into captivity, And his glory into the adversary's hand.

78:62 He gave his people over also unto the sword, And was wroth with his inheritance.

78:63 Fire devoured their young men; And their virgins had no marriage-song.

78:64 Their priests fell by the sword; And their widows made no lamentation.

78:65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

78:66 And he smote his adversaries backward: He put them to a perpetual reproach.

78:67 Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,

78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah, The mount Zion which he loved.

78:69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he hath established for ever.

78:70 He chose David also his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds:

78:71 From following the ewes that have their young he brought him, To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

78:72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.