[78:1] Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
[78:2] I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,
[78:3] things we have heard and known, things that our ancestors told us.
[78:4] We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.
[78:5] He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob. He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to their children,
[78:6] so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.
[78:7] In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments.
[78:8] They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.
[78:9] The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle.
[78:10] They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law.
[78:11] They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform.
[78:12] While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
[78:13] He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls.
[78:14] By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire.
[78:15] He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths.
[78:16] He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river.
[78:17] But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
[78:18] They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.
[78:19] They spoke against God and said, “Can God supply food in the desert?
[78:20] It is true that he struck the rock, and water flowed out in a torrent; but can he also provide us with bread and give his people meat?”
[78:21] And so the Lord was angry when he heard them; he attacked his people with fire, and his anger against them grew,
[78:22] because they had no faith in him and did not believe that he would save them.
[78:23] But he spoke to the sky above and commanded its doors to open;
[78:24] he gave them grain from heaven, by sending down manna for them to eat.
[78:25] So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
[78:26] He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
[78:27] and to his people he sent down birds, as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
[78:28] they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
[78:29] So the people ate and were satisfied; God gave them what they wanted.
[78:30] But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating,
[78:31] when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.
[78:32] In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
[78:33] So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
[78:34] Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
[78:35] They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
[78:36] But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
[78:37] They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.
[78:38] But God was merciful to his people. He forgave their sin and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and restrained his fury.
[78:39] He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.
[78:40] How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!
[78:41] Again and again they put God to the test and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
[78:42] They forgot his great power and the day when he saved them from their enemies
[78:43] and performed his mighty acts and miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
[78:44] He turned the rivers into blood, and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
[78:45] He sent flies among them, that tormented them, and frogs that ruined their land.
[78:46] He sent locusts to eat their crops and to destroy their fields.
[78:47] He killed their grapevines with hail and their fig trees with frost.
[78:48] He killed their cattle with hail and their flocks with lightning.
[78:49] He caused them great distress by pouring out his anger and fierce rage, which came as messengers of death.
[78:50] He did not restrain his anger or spare their lives, but killed them with a plague.
[78:51] He killed the first-born sons of all the families of Egypt.
[78:52] Then he led his people out like a shepherd and guided them through the desert.
[78:53] He led them safely, and they were not afraid; but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
[78:54] He brought them to his holy land, to the mountains which he himself conquered.
[78:55] He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced; he divided their land among the tribes of Israel and gave their homes to his people.
[78:56] But they rebelled against Almighty God and put him to the test. They did not obey his commandments,
[78:57] but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.
[78:58] They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.
[78:59] God was angry when he saw it, so he rejected his people completely.
[78:60] He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.
[78:61] He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box, the symbol of his power and glory.
[78:62] He was angry with his own people and let them be killed by their enemies.
[78:63] Young men were killed in war, and young women had no one to marry.
[78:64] Priests died by violence, and their widows were not allowed to mourn.
[78:65] At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep; he was like a strong man excited by wine.
[78:66] He drove his enemies back in lasting and shameful defeat.
[78:67] But he rejected the descendants of Joseph; he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.
[78:68] Instead he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.
[78:69] There he built his Temple like his home in heaven; he made it firm like the earth itself, secure for all time.
[78:70] He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures,
[78:71] where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.
[78:72] David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill.