Psalms 78

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1O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

2I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old–

3what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.

4We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

5He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children,

6so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

7Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

8They would not be like their forefathers– a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.

9The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;

10they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law.

11They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

12He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

13He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall.

14He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night.

15He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

16he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.

17But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.

19They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert?

20When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?”

21When the Lord heard them, he was very angry; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,

22for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance.

23Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens;

24he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.

25Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.

26He let loose the east wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power.

27He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore.

28He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents.

29They ate till they had more than enough, for he had given them what they craved.

30But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their mouths,

31God's anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel.

32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

33So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.

34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again.

35They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues;

37their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.

38Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.

39He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

40How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland!

41Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.

42They did not remember his power– the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,

43the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.

44He turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams.

45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

46He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust.

47He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

48He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility– a band of destroying angels.

50He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.

51He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.

52But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert.

53He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies.

54Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken.

55He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

56But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.

57Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.

58They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

59When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely.

60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men.

61He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

62He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance.

63Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs;

64their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.

65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine.

66He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame.

67Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

68but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

69He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever.

70He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;

71from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.

72And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

Commentary

"\nGive ear, O my people,.... The Jews were Christ's people, he descending from their fathers according to the flesh; they were his own, to whom he came, though rejected by them; they were his nation and people that delivered him up into the hands of the Romans; see Ro 9:4 thus it is usual with persons to call those, who are of the same nation with them, their people, Es 7:3 and especially for kings to call their subjects so; see 1Ch 28:2, and such was Christ; he was King of the Jews, though they would not have him reign over them; and therefore he here speaks as one having royal authority, and requires attention to him, and obedience to his word, which he calls his law:\n\nto my law; meaning neither the moral nor the ceremonial law, but the doctrine of the Gospel, or law of faith, called the Messiah's law, Isa 2:3. This is the doctrine which he as man received of his Father, and which he taught and delivered to his disciples, and which concerns himself, his person, office, and grace, and is sometimes called the doctrine of Christ, 2Jo 1:9,\n\nincline your ears to the words of my mouth; the several doctrines of the everlasting Gospel preached by him, which were words of wisdom and of grace, of righteousness and eternal life, of peace, pardon, and everlasting salvation: these ought to be heard and diligently attended to; the matter contained in them requires attention; the office Christ bears demands it of men; all that have ears to hear should hear; all Christ's sheep do hear his voice, understand it, and act according to it: hear ye him was the instruction of Moses, and the direction of Christ's heavenly Father, De 18:15, and great is the danger such incur who hear him not, but neglect and despise his word, Heb 2:2.\n\n{f} \u05dc\u05d0\u05e1\u05e3 \u03c4\u03c9 \u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03c6, Sept. "ipsi Asaph", Pagninus, Montanus; "tradita Asapho", Piscator.\n\n\n "

78:1-8 These are called dark and deep sayings, because they are carefully to be looked into. The law of God was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children, that the church may abide for ever. Also, that the providences of God, both in mercy and in judgment, might encourage them to conform to the will of God. The works of God much strengthen our resolution to keep his commandments. Hypocrisy is the high road to apostacy; those that do not set their hearts right, will not be stedfast with God. Many parents, by negligence and wickedness, become murderers of their children. But young persons, though they are bound to submit in all things lawful, must not obey sinful orders, or copy sinful examples.

PSALM 78 This psalm is historical; it is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure they had been under for their sins. The psalmist began, in the foregoing psalm, to relate God’s wonders of old, for his own encouragement in a difficult time; there he broke off abruptly, but here resumes the subject, for the edification of the church, and enlarges much upon it, showing not only how good God had been to them, which was an earnest of further finishing mercy, but how basely they had conducted themselves towards God, which justified him in correcting them as he did at this time, and forbade all complaints. Here is, I. The preface to this church history, commanding the attention of the present age to it and recommending it to the study of the generations to come (v. 1-8). II. The history itself from Moses to David; it is put into a psalm or song that it might be the better remembered and transmitted to posterity, and that the singing of it might affect them with the things here related, more than they would be with a bare narrative of them. The general scope of this psalm we have (v. 9–11) where notice is taken of the present rebukes they were under (v. 9), the sin which brought them under those rebukes (v. 10), and the mercies of God to them formerly, which aggravated that sin (v. 11). As to the particulars, we are here told, 1. What wonderful works God had wrought for them in bringing them out of Egypt (v. 12–16), providing for them in the wilderness (v. 23–29), plaguing and ruining their enemies (v. 43–53), and at length putting them in possession of the land of promise (v. 54, 55). 2. How ungrateful they were to God for his favours to them and how many and great provocations they were guilty of. How they murmured against God and distrusted him (v. 17–20), and did but counterfeit repentance and submission when he punished them (v. 34–37), thus grieving and tempting him (v. 40–42). How they affronted God with their idolatries after they came to Canaan (v. 56–58). 3. How God had justly punished them for their sins (v. 21, 22) in the wilderness, making their sin their punishment (v. 29–33), and now, of late, when the ark was taken by the Philistines (v. 59–64). 4. How graciously God had spared them and returned in mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations. He had forgiven them formerly (v. 38, 39), and now, of late, had removed the judgments they had brought upon themselves, and brought them under a happy establishment both in church and state (v. 65–72). As the general scope of this psalm may be of use to us in the singing of it, to put us upon recollecting what God has done for us and for his church formerly, and what we have done against him, so the particulars also may be of use to us, for warning against those sins of unbelief and ingratitude which Israel of old was notoriously guilty of, and the record of which was preserved for our learning. "These things happened unto them for ensamples," 1 Co. 10:11; Heb. 4:11.Maschil of Asaph.Verses 1-8 These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil—a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,I.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG ሕዝቤ ሆይ፥ ሕጌን አድምጡ፤ ጆሮአችሁንም ወደ አፌ ቃል አዘንብሉ። አማርኛ BCV ኦ ህዝበይ፥ ንሕገይ ኣድምፁ፤ እዝንኹምውን ናብ ቃል ኣፈይ ፅን ኣብሉ። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Yaa saba ko, gurra keetiin barsiisa koo dhaggeeffadhu, gurra kee gara dubbii afaan koo keessaa ba'uutti qabi! Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ አፅምኡ ሕዝብየ ሕግየ፤ ወጽልዉ እዝነክሙ ኀበ ቃለ አፉየ። giz GAZGAZ Yaa saba ko, gurra keetiin barsiisa koo dhaggeeffadhu, gurra kee gara dubbii afaan koo keessaa ba'uutti qabi! Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ኦ ህዝበይ፥ ንሕገይ ኣድምፁ፤ እዝንኹምውን ናብ ቃል ኣፈይ ፅን ኣብሉ። ትግርኛ AMHNIV ሕዝቤ ሆይ፤ ትምህርቴን ስማ፤ ጆሮህንም ወደ አንደበቴ ቃል አዘንብል። አማርኛ SWAHSUV Enyi watu wangu, sikilizeni sheria yangu, Tegeni masikio kwa maneno ya kinywa changu. Kiswahili