Psalms:78

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* 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 .

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