Psalms 78 : 1 (NLV)
O my people, hear my teaching. Listen to the words of my mouth.
Psalms 78 : 2 (NLV)
I will open my mouth in picturestories. I will tell things which have been kept secret from long ago,
Psalms 78 : 3 (NLV)
which we have heard and known because our fathers have told us.
Psalms 78 : 4 (NLV)
We will not hide them from their children. But we will tell the children-to-come the praises of the Lord, and of His power and the great things He has done.
Psalms 78 : 5 (NLV)
For He has made His will known to Jacob. He made the Law in Israel, which He told our fathers to teach their children.
Psalms 78 : 6 (NLV)
So the children-tocome might know, even the children yet to be born. So they may rise up and tell it to their children.
Psalms 78 : 7 (NLV)
Then they would put their trust in God and not forget the works of God. And they would keep His Law.
Psalms 78 : 8 (NLV)
They would not be like their fathers, right with God. And their spirit was not faithful to God.
Psalms 78 : 9 (NLV)
The sons of Ephraim were ready with their bows. But they turned away in the day of fighting.
Psalms 78 : 10 (NLV)
They did not keep the agreement of God. And they would not walk in His Law.
Psalms 78 : 11 (NLV)
They forgot what He had done and His great works that He had shown them.
Psalms 78 : 12 (NLV)
He did powerful works in front of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
Psalms 78 : 13 (NLV)
He divided the sea and made them pass through it. He made the water stand up like a wall.
Psalms 78 : 14 (NLV)
He led them with the cloud during the day, and with a light of fire during the night.
Psalms 78 : 15 (NLV)
He broke the rocks in the place where no people live, and gave them water as if it flowed from the sea.
Psalms 78 : 16 (NLV)
He made water come out of the rock. He made the water flow down like rivers.
Psalms 78 : 17 (NLV)
But they still kept on sinning against Him. They did not obey the Most High in the place where no people live.
Psalms 78 : 18 (NLV)
They tested God in their hearts by asking for the food they wanted.
Psalms 78 : 19 (NLV)
Then they spoke against God, saying, "Can God set a table in the place where no people live?
Psalms 78 : 20 (NLV)
See, He hit the rock and water poured out and rivers flowed over. Can He give bread also? Will He give meat to His people?"
Psalms 78 : 21 (NLV)
The Lord was full of anger when He heard them. And a fire was set against Jacob. His anger went up against Israel,
Psalms 78 : 22 (NLV)
because they did not believe in God. They did not trust in Him to save them.
Psalms 78 : 23 (NLV)
Yet He spoke to the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven.
Psalms 78 : 24 (NLV)
He sent down bread from heaven for them to eat. He gave them food from heaven.
Psalms 78 : 25 (NLV)
Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.
Psalms 78 : 26 (NLV)
He made the east wind blow in the heavens. And He brought in the south wind by His power.
Psalms 78 : 27 (NLV)
He sent meat down on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the sea.
Psalms 78 : 28 (NLV)
He let them fall in the place where they were staying, all around their tents.
Psalms 78 : 29 (NLV)
So they ate until they were full. He gave them what they wanted.
Psalms 78 : 30 (NLV)
But before they had eaten all they wanted, even while it was still in their mouths,
Psalms 78 : 31 (NLV)
the anger of God came upon them. And He killed the strongest of them. He cut down the young men of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 32 (NLV)
But still they kept on sinning. They did not believe in His powerful works.
Psalms 78 : 33 (NLV)
So He made their days come to nothing. He made their years end in fear all at once.
Psalms 78 : 34 (NLV)
When He killed some of them, the others would look for Him. They returned and looked for God.
Psalms 78 : 35 (NLV)
They remembered that God was their rock, and that the Most High God was the One Who set them free.
Psalms 78 : 36 (NLV)
But they gave Him false honor with their mouth. They lied to Him with their tongue.
Psalms 78 : 37 (NLV)
For their heart was not right toward Him. They were not faithful to His agreement.
Psalms 78 : 38 (NLV)
But He showed them loving-kindness and forgave their sins. He did not destroy them. He held back His anger many times. He did not let all of His anger loose.
Psalms 78 : 39 (NLV)
He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.
Psalms 78 : 40 (NLV)
How many times they went against Him in the place where no people live, and gave Him sorrow in that empty land!
Psalms 78 : 41 (NLV)
They put God to the test again and again, and troubled the Holy One of Israel.
Psalms 78 : 42 (NLV)
They did not remember His power and the day He saved them from those who hated them,
Psalms 78 : 43 (NLV)
when He did His powerful works in Egypt and showed His greatness in the field of Zoan.
Psalms 78 : 44 (NLV)
He changed their rivers into blood. They could not drink from their rivers.
Psalms 78 : 45 (NLV)
He sent many flies among them that ate them, and frogs that destroyed them.
Psalms 78 : 46 (NLV)
He gave their fields of food to the grasshopper, and all they worked for to the locust.
Psalms 78 : 47 (NLV)
He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with cold.
Psalms 78 : 48 (NLV)
He killed their cattle with hail and lightning.
Psalms 78 : 49 (NLV)
He sent them His burning anger and trouble. He sent a group of angels to bring trouble and sorrow to them.
Psalms 78 : 50 (NLV)
He made a straight path for His anger. He did not save their soul from death. But He gave their lives over to all these troubles.
Psalms 78 : 51 (NLV)
He killed all the first-born in Egypt, the first children of their strength in the tents of Ham.
Psalms 78 : 52 (NLV)
But He brought His people out like sheep. And He led them like a flock in the place where no people live.
Psalms 78 : 53 (NLV)
He led them and kept them safe, so they were not afraid. But the sea covered those who hated them.
Psalms 78 : 54 (NLV)
He brought them to His holy land, to the hill country His right hand had taken.
Psalms 78 : 55 (NLV)
He drove out the nations before them. He gave them parts of the land for a gift. And He made the families of Israel live in their tents.
Psalms 78 : 56 (NLV)
But they tempted and went against the Most High God. They did not keep His Law.
Psalms 78 : 57 (NLV)
They turned away and acted without faith like their fathers. They were like a bow that cannot be trusted.
Psalms 78 : 58 (NLV)
They made Him angry with their sinful places of worship. And they made Him jealous with their false gods.
Psalms 78 : 59 (NLV)
God was very angry when He heard them, and He hated Israel.
Psalms 78 : 60 (NLV)
He left the holy tent at Shiloh, the tent He had set up among men.
Psalms 78 : 61 (NLV)
And He let His strength be taken. He put His greatness into the hands of those who hated Israel.
Psalms 78 : 62 (NLV)
He allowed His people to be killed with the sword. And He was very angry with those who belong to Him.
Psalms 78 : 63 (NLV)
Fire burned up their young men. And their young women had no wedding songs.
Psalms 78 : 64 (NLV)
Their religious leaders fell by the sword. And the women who lost their husbands could not cry.
Psalms 78 : 65 (NLV)
Then the Lord woke up as if from sleep, like a strong man wild with wine.
Psalms 78 : 66 (NLV)
He beat back those who hated Him. And He put them to shame forever.
Psalms 78 : 67 (NLV)
He turned away from the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the family of Ephraim,
Psalms 78 : 68 (NLV)
but chose the family of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.
Psalms 78 : 69 (NLV)
He built His holy place like the high mountains, like the earth He has built forever.
Psalms 78 : 70 (NLV)
He chose David, His servant and took him from the flocks of sheep.
Psalms 78 : 71 (NLV)
He brought him from caring for the sheep and their lambs to being the shepherd of Jacob His people, and Israel who belongs to Him.
Psalms 78 : 72 (NLV)
So David was their shepherd with a heart that was right, and led them with good hands and wisdom.
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