78:1  Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, [to] my law:
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
 78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark
sayings of old:
 78:3  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told
us.
 78:4  We will not hide [them] from their children, showing to
the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his
strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
 78:5  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a
law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should
make them known to their children:
 78:6  That the generation to come might know [them, even] the
children [which] should be born; [who] should arise and declare
[them] to their children:
 78:7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget
the works of God, but keep his commandments:
 78:8  And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and
rebellious generation; a generation [that] set not their heart
aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
 78:9  The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying
bows, turned back in the day of battle.
 78:10  They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk
in his law;
 78:11  And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had
showed them.
 78:12  Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, [in] the field of Zoan.
 78:13  He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through;
and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
 78:14  In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all
the night with a light of fire.
 78:15  He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them]
drink as [out of] the great depths.
 78:16  He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused
waters to run down like rivers.
 78:17  And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the
most High in the wilderness.
 78:18  And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for
their lust.
 78:19  Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish
a table in the wilderness?
 78:20  Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out,
and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he
provide flesh for his people?
 78:21  Therefore the LORD heard [this], and was wroth: so a
fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against
Israel;
 78:22  Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in
his salvation:
 78:23  Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and
opened the doors of heaven,
 78:24  And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had
given them of the corn of heaven.
 78:25  Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the
full.
 78:26  He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by
his power he brought in the south wind.
 78:27  He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered
fowls like as the sand of the sea:
 78:28  And he let [it] fall in the midst of their camp, round
about their habitations.
 78:29  So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them
their own desire;
 78:30  They were not estranged from their lust. But while
their meat [was] yet in their mouths,
 78:31  The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest
of them, and smote down the chosen [men] of Israel.
 78:32  For all this they sinned still, and believed not for
his wondrous works.
 78:33  Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and
their years in trouble.
 78:34  When he slew them, then they sought him: and they
returned and inquired early after God.
 78:35  And they remembered that God [was] their rock, and the
high God their redeemer.
 78:36  Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and
they lied unto him with their tongues.
 78:37  For their heart was not right with him, neither were
they stedfast in his covenant.
 78:38  But he, [being] full of compassion, forgave [their]
iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: yea, many a time turned he
his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
 78:39  For he remembered that they [were but] flesh; a wind
that passeth away, and cometh not again.
 78:40  How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, [and]
grieve him in the desert!
 78:41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the
Holy One of Israel.
 78:42  They remembered not his hand, [nor] the day when he
delivered them from the enemy.
 78:43  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders
in the field of Zoan:
 78:44  And had turned their rivers into blood; and their
floods, that they could not drink.
 78:45  He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which
devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
 78:46  He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and
their labour unto the locust.
 78:47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore
trees with frost.
 78:48  He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their
flocks to hot thunderbolts.
 78:49  He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath,
and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels [among
them].
 78:50  He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul
from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
 78:51  And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of
[their] strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
 78:52  But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and
guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
 78:53  And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but
the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
 78:54  And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
[even to] this mountain, [which] his right hand had purchased.
 78:55  He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided
them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to
dwell in their tents.
 78:56  Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and
kept not his testimonies:
 78:57  But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their
fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
 78:58  For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
 78:59  When God heard [this], he was wroth, and greatly
abhorred Israel:
 78:60  So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent
[which] he placed among men;
 78:61  And delivered his strength into captivity, and his
glory into the enemy's hand.
 78:62  He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was
wroth with his inheritance.
 78:63  The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens
were not given to marriage.
 78:64  Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made
no lamentation.
 78:65  Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, [and] like a
mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
 78:66  And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put
them to a perpetual reproach.
 78:67  Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose
not the tribe of Ephraim:
 78:68  But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he
loved.
 78:69  And he built his sanctuary like high [palaces], like
the earth which he hath established for ever.
 78:70  He chose David also his servant, and took him from the
sheepfolds:
 78:71  From following the ewes great with young he brought him
to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
 78:72  So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;
and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.