God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History

• 78 Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
• 2 [fn] a parable with my mouth. I will pour out riddles from long ago,
• 3  and our ancestors[fn] have told us.
• 4 them from their children,[fn]telling the next generation the praises of Yahweh,
• and his power and his wonders that he has done.
• 5  and appointed a law[fn] in Israel,
• which he commanded our ancestors[fn]
• to teach to their children,
• 6 the next generation might know— children yet to be born—
• that they might rise up and tell their children,
• 7  and not forget the deeds of God,
• but keep his commandments,
• 8 [fn] a stubborn and rebellious generation,
• a generation that did not make ready its heart,
• whose spirit was not faithful to God.
• 9 [fn] turned back on the day of battle.
• 10  and refused to go in his law.[fn]
• 11  and his wonders that he had shown them.
• 12 [fn] he did a wonder, in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
• 13  and he caused waters to stand like a heap.
• 14  and all night with a fiery light.
• 15  and provided drink abundantly as from the depths.
• 16 the rock and caused water to flow down like rivers.
• 17  by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
• 18  by asking food[fn]
• 19  They said, “Is God able
• to prepare a table in the wilderness?
• 20 the rock and water flowed and streams gushed out,
• but can he also give food
• or provide meat for his people?”
• 21  and he was very angry,
• and a fire was kindled against Jacob,
• and his anger also rose up against Israel,
• 22  and they did not trust his salvation.
• 23 the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
• 24  and gave them the grain of heaven.
• 25 the bread of[fn] He sent them food enough to be satisfied.
• 26 the east wind to blow in the heavens and drove along the south wind by his strength.
• 27  even winged birds[fn] like the sand of the seas.
• 28 them to fall in the midst of his camp, all around his dwellings.
• 29  and he brought about what they craved.
• 30  while their food was still in their mouth,
• 31  and he killed some of the stoutest of them,
• even the young men of Israel he caused to bow down in death.
• 32  and did not believe his wonders.
• 33 [fn] their years with terror.[fn]
• 34 some of them, then they sought him, and repented and earnestly sought God.
• 35 was their rock, and God Most High their redeemer.
• 36  and lied to him with their tongue.
• 37  nor were they faithful to his covenant.
• 38 was compassionate; he pardoned[fn]their guilt and did not destroy them.
• And many times he turned back his anger
• and did not stir up all his wrath,
• 39 were flesh, a passing wind that does not return.
• 40  and vexed him in the wasteland!
• 41  and distressed[fn] the Holy One of Israel.
• 42 [fn][fn] he redeemed them from the enemy,
• 43 [fn] his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the region of Zoan,
• 44 [fn] to blood so they could not drink from their streams.
• 45  and frogs that destroyed them.
• 46  and their labor to the locust.[fn]
• 47  and their sycamore trees with sleet.[fn]
• 48  and their livestock to the lightning bolts.
• 49  rage and indignation and trouble,
• a band of[fn] angels.
• 50  He did not spare them[fn] from death
• but handed their life over to the plague.
• 51 the firstborn in Egypt, the first of their virility in the tents of Ham.
• 52  and guided them like a herd in the wilderness.
• 53  but the sea covered their enemies.
• 54 [fn] this mountain his right hand acquired.[fn]
• 55  and allocated them for an inheritance by boundary line,
• and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
• 56  and did not keep his statutes.
• 57 [fn] They twisted like a crooked[fn] bow.
• 58  and made him jealous with their images.
• 59  and rejected Israel utterly.
• 60  the tent he had placed among humankind.
• 61  and his splendor into the hand of the enemy.
• 62  and he was very angry with his inheritance.
• 63  and his young women[fn] were not praised.
• 64  and his widows did not weep.
• 65 one who had been asleep, awoke like a warrior who had been drunk with wine.[fn]
• 66 he gave them over to perpetual scorn.
• 67  and did not chose the tribe of Ephraim,
• 68 [fn] that he loved.
• 69 the heights, like the earth that he established forever.
• 70  and took him from the sheepfolds.
• 71  to shepherd Jacob, his people,
• and Israel, his inheritance.
• 72  and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.