Salmos 78 - XXX - VW-Edition 2006

Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; extend your ears to the words of my mouth. 
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, 
which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the following generation the praises of Jehovah, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. 
For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should declare them to their children; 
that the following generation might know them, the children who would be born, that they might arise and recount them to their children, 
that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of the Mighty God, but keep His commandments; 
and might not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit has not been faithful to the Mighty God. 
The sons of Ephraim, being armed to shoot with their bows, turned back in the day of battle. 
They did not keep the Covenant of God; they refused to walk in His Law, 
and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them. 
He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters stand up like a heap. 
In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. 
He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance from the depths. 
He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. 
But they sinned even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. 
And they tested the Mighty God in their heart by asking for food for the lust of their soul. 
Yes, they spoke against God: They said, Can the Mighty God set a table in the wilderness? 
Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people? 
Therefore Jehovah heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, 
because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation; 
though He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of the heavens, 
had rained down manna upon them to eat, and given them of the grain of the heavens. 
Men ate the bread of the mighty; He sent them food to the full. 
He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind. 
He also rained flesh upon them like the dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas; 
and He let them fall into the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. 
So they ate and were abundantly satisfied, for He gave them their own desire. 
They were not deprived of their lust; but while their food was still in their mouths, 
the wrath of God came upon them, and killed the fattest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel. 
For all this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. 
Therefore He brought an end to their days in vanity, and their years in dismay. 
When He killed them, then they sought after Him; and they returned and sought earnestly for the Mighty God. 
Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God was the One who redeemed them. 
Nevertheless they deceived Him with their mouths, and they lied to Him with their tongues; 
for their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant. 
But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; yea, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; 
for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. 
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! 
Yea, they turned back and tempted the Mighty God, and troubled the Holy One of Israel. 
They did not remember His hand, the day when He ransomed them from the enemy, 
when He brought to pass His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the fields of Zoan; 
turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink. 
He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 
He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. 
He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. 
He also gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to lightning. 
He cast upon them His burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, by sending evil angels. 
He made a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, 
and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first of their strength in the tents of Ham. 
But He made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; 
and He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 
And He brought them to the border of His sanctuary, this mountain which His right hand had acquired. 
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by a surveyors line, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. 
Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His Testimonies, 
but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 
For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. 
When God heard this, He was angry, and greatly despised Israel, 
so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He had placed among men, 
and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemys hand. 
He also gave His people over to the sword, and was angry with His inheritance. 
The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given in marriage. 
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. 
Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a mighty man overcome with wine. 
And He struck His enemies; He put them to a perpetual reproach. 
Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 
but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. 
And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has founded forever. 
He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; 
from following the ewes nursing their young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. 