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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Psalm 78</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/78.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc//psalms/78-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/psalms/">Psalm</a> > Psalm 78</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/77.htm" title="Psalm 77">◄</a> Psalm 78 <a href="../psalms/79.htm" title="Psalm 79">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/psalms/78.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/psalms/78.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/psalms/78.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/psalms/78.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/psalms/78.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/psalms/78.htm">NAS</a></div> <div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/psalms/78.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a>I Will Open My Mouth in Parables (<a href ="../matthew/13.htm#34">Matthew 13:34–35</a>)<a href="/psalms/78-1.htm"></a>A Maskil<a href="#fn">a</a> of Asaph. <a href="#">1</a>Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth. <A name="3"></a><a href="/psalms/78-2.htm">2</a>I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,<a href="#fn">b</a> <A name="4"></a><a href="/psalms/78-3.htm">3</a>that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. <A name="5"></a><a href="/psalms/78-4.htm">4</a>We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed. <A name="6"></a><a href="/psalms/78-5.htm">5</a>For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, <A name="7"></a><a href="/psalms/78-6.htm">6</a>that the coming generation would know them— even children yet to be born— to arise and tell their own children <A name="8"></a><a href="/psalms/78-7.htm">7</a>that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments. <A name="9"></a><a href="/psalms/78-8.htm">8</a>Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God. <A name="10"></a><a href="/psalms/78-9.htm">9</a>The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. <A name="11"></a><a href="/psalms/78-10.htm">10</a>They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. <A name="12"></a><a href="/psalms/78-11.htm">11</a>They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them. <A name="13"></a><a href="/psalms/78-12.htm">12</a>He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. <A name="14"></a><a href="/psalms/78-13.htm">13</a>He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. <A name="15"></a><a href="/psalms/78-14.htm">14</a>He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. <A name="16"></a><a href="/psalms/78-15.htm">15</a>He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. <A name="17"></a><a href="/psalms/78-16.htm">16</a>He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers. <A name="18"></a><a href="/psalms/78-17.htm">17</a>But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. <A name="19"></a><a href="/psalms/78-18.htm">18</a>They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. <A name="20"></a><a href="/psalms/78-19.htm">19</a>They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? <A name="21"></a><a href="/psalms/78-20.htm">20</a>When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?” <A name="22"></a><a href="/psalms/78-21.htm">21</a>Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, <A name="23"></a><a href="/psalms/78-22.htm">22</a>because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. <A name="24"></a><a href="/psalms/78-23.htm">23</a>Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. <A name="25"></a><a href="/psalms/78-24.htm">24</a>He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.<a href="#fn">c</a> <A name="26"></a><a href="/psalms/78-25.htm">25</a>Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. <A name="27"></a><a href="/psalms/78-26.htm">26</a>He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. <A name="28"></a><a href="/psalms/78-27.htm">27</a>He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. <A name="29"></a><a href="/psalms/78-28.htm">28</a>He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. <A name="30"></a><a href="/psalms/78-29.htm">29</a>So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. <A name="31"></a><a href="/psalms/78-30.htm">30</a>Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, <A name="32"></a><a href="/psalms/78-31.htm">31</a>God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel. <A name="33"></a><a href="/psalms/78-32.htm">32</a>In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. <A name="34"></a><a href="/psalms/78-33.htm">33</a>So He ended their days in futility,<a href="#fn">d</a> and their years in sudden terror. <A name="35"></a><a href="/psalms/78-34.htm">34</a>When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. <A name="36"></a><a href="/psalms/78-35.htm">35</a>And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High<a href="#fn">e</a> was their Redeemer. <A name="37"></a><a href="/psalms/78-36.htm">36</a>But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. <A name="38"></a><a href="/psalms/78-37.htm">37</a>Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant. <A name="39"></a><a href="/psalms/78-38.htm">38</a>And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. <A name="40"></a><a href="/psalms/78-39.htm">39</a>He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. <A name="41"></a><a href="/psalms/78-40.htm">40</a>How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! <A name="42"></a><a href="/psalms/78-41.htm">41</a>Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. <A name="43"></a><a href="/psalms/78-42.htm">42</a>They did not remember His power<a href="#fn">f</a> — the day He redeemed them from the adversary, <A name="44"></a><a href="/psalms/78-43.htm">43</a>when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. <A name="45"></a><a href="/psalms/78-44.htm">44</a>He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. <A name="46"></a><a href="/psalms/78-45.htm">45</a>He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. <A name="47"></a><a href="/psalms/78-46.htm">46</a>He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. <A name="48"></a><a href="/psalms/78-47.htm">47</a>He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.<a href="#fn">g</a> <A name="49"></a><a href="/psalms/78-48.htm">48</a>He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. <A name="50"></a><a href="/psalms/78-49.htm">49</a>He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity— a band of destroying angels. <A name="51"></a><a href="/psalms/78-50.htm">50</a>He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague. <A name="52"></a><a href="/psalms/78-51.htm">51</a>He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. <A name="53"></a><a href="/psalms/78-52.htm">52</a>He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. <A name="54"></a><a href="/psalms/78-53.htm">53</a>He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies. <A name="55"></a><a href="/psalms/78-54.htm">54</a>He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired. <A name="56"></a><a href="/psalms/78-55.htm">55</a>He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. <A name="57"></a><a href="/psalms/78-56.htm">56</a>But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. <A name="58"></a><a href="/psalms/78-57.htm">57</a>They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. <A name="59"></a><a href="/psalms/78-58.htm">58</a>They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. <A name="60"></a><a href="/psalms/78-59.htm">59</a>On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely. <A name="61"></a><a href="/psalms/78-60.htm">60</a>He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men. <A name="62"></a><a href="/psalms/78-61.htm">61</a>He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary. <A name="63"></a><a href="/psalms/78-62.htm">62</a>He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage. <A name="64"></a><a href="/psalms/78-63.htm">63</a>Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs. <A name="65"></a><a href="/psalms/78-64.htm">64</a>His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament. <A name="66"></a><a href="/psalms/78-65.htm">65</a>Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. <A name="67"></a><a href="/psalms/78-66.htm">66</a>He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame. <A name="68"></a><a href="/psalms/78-67.htm">67</a>He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim. <A name="69"></a><a href="/psalms/78-68.htm">68</a>But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. <A name="70"></a><a href="/psalms/78-69.htm">69</a>He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever. <A name="71"></a><a href="/psalms/78-70.htm">70</a>He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; <A name="72"></a><a href="/psalms/78-71.htm">71</a>from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. <A name=""></a><a href="/psalms/78-72.htm">72</a>So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.<A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"> Footnotes: 1 a Maskil  is probably a musical or liturgical term; used for Psalms 32, 42, 44–45, 52–55, 74, 78, 88–89, and 142. 2 b Or from ancient times ; see also LXX; cited in <a href="../matthew/13.htm#35">Matthew 13:35</a> 24 c Cited in <a href="../john/6.htm#31">John 6:31</a> 33 d Or in vapor  35 e Hebrew El-Elyon  42 f Or His hand  47 g Or frost  or driving rain  </div> </div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. 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