Psalms 78 : 1 (NCV)
My people, listen to my teaching; listen to what I say.
Psalms 78 : 2 (NCV)
I will speak using stories; I will tell secret things from long ago.
Psalms 78 : 3 (NCV)
We have heard them and known them by what our ancestors have told us.
Psalms 78 : 4 (NCV)
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell those who come later about the praises of the Lord. We will tell about his power and the miracles he has done.
Psalms 78 : 5 (NCV)
The Lord made an agreement with Jacob and gave the teachings to Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children.
Psalms 78 : 6 (NCV)
Then their children would know them, even their children not yet born. And they would tell their children.
Psalms 78 : 7 (NCV)
So they would all trust God and would not forget what he had done but would obey his commands.
Psalms 78 : 8 (NCV)
They would not be like their ancestors who were stubborn and disobedient. Their hearts were not loyal to God, and they were not true to him.
Psalms 78 : 9 (NCV)
The men of Ephraim had bows for weapons, but they ran away on the day of battle.
Psalms 78 : 10 (NCV)
They didn't keep their agreement with God and refused to live by his teachings.
Psalms 78 : 11 (NCV)
They forgot what he had done and the miracles he had shown them.
Psalms 78 : 12 (NCV)
He did miracles while their ancestors watched, in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.
Psalms 78 : 13 (NCV)
He divided the Red Sea and led them through. He made the water stand up like a wall.
Psalms 78 : 14 (NCV)
He led them with a cloud by day and by the light of a fire by night.
Psalms 78 : 15 (NCV)
He split the rocks in the desert and gave them more than enough water, as if from the deep ocean.
Psalms 78 : 16 (NCV)
He brought streams out of the rock and caused water to flow down like rivers.
Psalms 78 : 17 (NCV)
But the people continued to sin against him; in the desert they turned against God Most High.
Psalms 78 : 18 (NCV)
They decided to test God by asking for the food they wanted.
Psalms 78 : 19 (NCV)
Then they spoke against God, saying, "Can God prepare food in the desert?
Psalms 78 : 20 (NCV)
When he hit the rock, water poured out and rivers flowed down. But can he give us bread also? Will he provide his people with meat?"
Psalms 78 : 21 (NCV)
When the Lord heard them, he was very angry. His anger was like fire to the people of Jacob; his anger grew against the people of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 22 (NCV)
They had not believed God and had not trusted him to save them.
Psalms 78 : 23 (NCV)
But he gave a command to the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.
Psalms 78 : 24 (NCV)
He rained manna down on them to eat; he gave them grain from heaven.
Psalms 78 : 25 (NCV)
So they ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.
Psalms 78 : 26 (NCV)
He sent the east wind from heaven and led the south wind by his power.
Psalms 78 : 27 (NCV)
He rained meat on them like dust. The birds were as many as the sand of the sea.
Psalms 78 : 28 (NCV)
He made the birds fall inside the camp, all around the tents.
Psalms 78 : 29 (NCV)
So the people ate and became very full. God had given them what they wanted.
Psalms 78 : 30 (NCV)
While they were still eating, and while the food was still in their mouths,
Psalms 78 : 31 (NCV)
God became angry with them. He killed some of the healthiest of them; he struck down the best young men of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 32 (NCV)
But they kept on sinning; they did not believe even with the miracles.
Psalms 78 : 33 (NCV)
So he ended their days without meaning and their years in terror.
Psalms 78 : 34 (NCV)
Anytime he killed them, they would look to him for help; they would come back to God and follow him.
Psalms 78 : 35 (NCV)
They would remember that God was their Rock, that God Most High had saved them.
Psalms 78 : 36 (NCV)
But their words were false, and their tongues lied to him.
Psalms 78 : 37 (NCV)
Their hearts were not really loyal to God; they did not keep his agreement.
Psalms 78 : 38 (NCV)
Still God was merciful. He forgave their sins and did not destroy them. Many times he held back his anger and did not stir up all his anger.
Psalms 78 : 39 (NCV)
He remembered that they were only human, like a wind that blows and does not come back.
Psalms 78 : 40 (NCV)
They turned against God so often in the desert and grieved him there.
Psalms 78 : 41 (NCV)
Again and again they tested God and brought pain to the Holy One of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 42 (NCV)
They did not remember his power or the time he saved them from the enemy.
Psalms 78 : 43 (NCV)
They forgot the signs he did in Egypt and his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
Psalms 78 : 44 (NCV)
He turned their rivers to blood so no one could drink the water.
Psalms 78 : 45 (NCV)
He sent flies that bit the people. He sent frogs that destroyed them.
Psalms 78 : 46 (NCV)
He gave their crops to grasshoppers and what they worked for to locusts.
Psalms 78 : 47 (NCV)
He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with sleet.
Psalms 78 : 48 (NCV)
He killed their animals with hail and their cattle with lightning.
Psalms 78 : 49 (NCV)
He showed them his hot anger. He sent his strong anger against them, his destroying angels.
Psalms 78 : 50 (NCV)
He found a way to show his anger. He did not keep them from dying but let them die by a terrible disease.
Psalms 78 : 51 (NCV)
God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt, the oldest son of each family of Ham.
Psalms 78 : 52 (NCV)
But God led his people out like sheep and he guided them like a flock through the desert.
Psalms 78 : 53 (NCV)
He led them to safety so they had nothing to fear, but their enemies drowned in the sea.
Psalms 78 : 54 (NCV)
So God brought them to his holy land, to the mountain country he took with his own power.
Psalms 78 : 55 (NCV)
He forced out the other nations, and he had his people inherit the land. He let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents.
Psalms 78 : 56 (NCV)
But they tested God and turned against God Most High; they did not keep his rules.
Psalms 78 : 57 (NCV)
They turned away and were disloyal just like their ancestors. They were like a crooked bow that does not shoot straight.
Psalms 78 : 58 (NCV)
They made God angry by building places to worship gods; they made him jealous with their idols.
Psalms 78 : 59 (NCV)
When God heard them, he became very angry and rejected the people of Israel completely.
Psalms 78 : 60 (NCV)
He left his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tent where he lived among the people.
Psalms 78 : 61 (NCV)
He let the Ark, his power, be captured; he let the Ark, his glory, be taken by enemies.
Psalms 78 : 62 (NCV)
He let his people be killed; he was very angry with his children.
Psalms 78 : 63 (NCV)
The young men died by fire, and the young women had no one to marry.
Psalms 78 : 64 (NCV)
Their priests fell by the sword, but their widows were not allowed to cry.
Psalms 78 : 65 (NCV)
Then the Lord got up as if he had been asleep; he awoke like a man who had been drunk with wine.
Psalms 78 : 66 (NCV)
He struck down his enemies and disgraced them forever.
Psalms 78 : 67 (NCV)
But God rejected the family of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
Psalms 78 : 68 (NCV)
Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loves.
Psalms 78 : 69 (NCV)
And he built his Temple high like the mountains. Like the earth, he built it to last forever.
Psalms 78 : 70 (NCV)
He chose David to be his servant and took him from the sheep pens.
Psalms 78 : 71 (NCV)
He brought him from tending the sheep so he could lead the flock, the people of Jacob, his own people, the people of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 72 (NCV)
And David led them with an innocent heart and guided them with skillful hands. A psalm of Asaph.
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