CINXE.COM
Psalm 78 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
<!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=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Psalm 78 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../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="/bmcc/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/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NRSVCE</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 class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><div class="text-html"> <h3><span id="en" class="text">Psalm 78</span></h3><h3><span class="text">God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude</span></h3><h4 class="psalm-title"><span class="text">A Maskil of Asaph.</span></h4><div class="poetry"><p class="line"><span class="text"><span class="versenum">1</span>Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">incline your ears to the words of my mouth.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">2</span>I will open my mouth in a parable;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">I will utter dark sayings from of old,</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">3</span>things that we have heard and known,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">that our ancestors have told us.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">4</span>We will not hide them from their children;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">we will tell to the coming generation</span></span><br /><span class="text">the glorious deeds of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span>, and his might,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the wonders that he has done.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">5</span>He established a decree in Jacob,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and appointed a law in Israel,</span></span><br /><span class="text">which he commanded our ancestors</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">to teach to their children;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">6</span>that the next generation might know them,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">the children yet unborn,</span></span><br /><span class="text">and rise up and tell them to their children,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">7</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span>so that they should set their hope in God,</span></span><br /><span class="text">and not forget the works of God,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">but keep his commandments;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">8</span>and that they should not be like their ancestors,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">a stubborn and rebellious generation,</span></span><br /><span class="text">a generation whose heart was not steadfast,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">whose spirit was not faithful to God.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">9</span>The Ephraimites, armed with<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-17193a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote a">a</a>]</span> the bow,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">turned back on the day of battle.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">10</span>They did not keep God’s covenant,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">but refused to walk according to his law.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">11</span>They forgot what he had done,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the miracles that he had shown them.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">12</span>In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">13</span>He divided the sea and let them pass through it,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and made the waters stand like a heap.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">14</span>In the daytime he led them with a cloud,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and all night long with a fiery light.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">15</span>He split rocks open in the wilderness,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">16</span>He made streams come out of the rock,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and caused waters to flow down like rivers.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">17</span>Yet they sinned still more against him,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">rebelling against the Most High in the desert.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">18</span>They tested God in their heart</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">by demanding the food they craved.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">19</span>They spoke against God, saying,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">20</span>Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and torrents overflowed,</span></span><br /><span class="text">can he also give bread,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">or provide meat for his people?”</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">21</span>Therefore, when the <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="small-caps">Lord</span> heard, he was full of rage;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">a fire was kindled against Jacob,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">his anger mounted against Israel,</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">22</span>because they had no faith in God,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and did not trust his saving power.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">23</span>Yet he commanded the skies above,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and opened the doors of heaven;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">24</span>he rained down on them manna to eat,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and gave them the grain of heaven.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">25</span>Mortals ate of the bread of angels;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">he sent them food in abundance.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">26</span>He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and by his power he led out the south wind;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">27</span>he rained flesh upon them like dust,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">winged birds like the sand of the seas;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">28</span>he let them fall within their camp,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">all around their dwellings.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">29</span>And they ate and were well filled,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">for he gave them what they craved.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">30</span>But before they had satisfied their craving,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">while the food was still in their mouths,</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">31</span>the anger of God rose against them</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and he killed the strongest of them,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and laid low the flower of Israel.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">32</span>In spite of all this they still sinned;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they did not believe in his wonders.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">33</span>So he made their days vanish like a breath,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and their years in terror.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">34</span>When he killed them, they sought for him;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they repented and sought God earnestly.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">35</span>They remembered that God was their rock,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">the Most High God their redeemer.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">36</span>But they flattered him with their mouths;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they lied to him with their tongues.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">37</span>Their heart was not steadfast toward him;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they were not true to his covenant.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">38</span>Yet he, being compassionate,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">forgave their iniquity,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and did not destroy them;</span></span><br /><span class="text">often he restrained his anger,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and did not stir up all his wrath.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">39</span>He remembered that they were but flesh,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">a wind that passes and does not come again.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">40</span>How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and grieved him in the desert!</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">41</span>They tested God again and again,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and provoked the Holy One of Israel.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">42</span>They did not keep in mind his power,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">43</span>when he displayed his signs in Egypt,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">44</span>He turned their rivers to blood,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">so that they could not drink of their streams.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">45</span>He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and frogs, which destroyed them.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">46</span>He gave their crops to the caterpillar,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the fruit of their labor to the locust.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">47</span>He destroyed their vines with hail,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and their sycamores with frost.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">48</span>He gave over their cattle to the hail,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and their flocks to thunderbolts.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">49</span>He let loose on them his fierce anger,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">wrath, indignation, and distress,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">a company of destroying angels.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">50</span>He made a path for his anger;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">he did not spare them from death,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">but gave their lives over to the plague.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">51</span>He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">52</span>Then he led out his people like sheep,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">53</span>He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">54</span>And he brought them to his holy hill,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">to the mountain that his right hand had won.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">55</span>He drove out nations before them;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">he apportioned them for a possession</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">56</span>Yet they tested the Most High God,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and rebelled against him.</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">They did not observe his decrees,</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">57</span>but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they twisted like a treacherous bow.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">58</span>For they provoked him to anger with their high places;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">they moved him to jealousy with their idols.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">59</span>When God heard, he was full of wrath,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and he utterly rejected Israel.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">60</span>He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">the tent where he dwelt among mortals,</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">61</span>and delivered his power to captivity,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">his glory to the hand of the foe.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">62</span>He gave his people to the sword,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and vented his wrath on his heritage.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">63</span>Fire devoured their young men,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and their girls had no marriage song.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">64</span>Their priests fell by the sword,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and their widows made no lamentation.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">65</span>Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">like a warrior shouting because of wine.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">66</span>He put his adversaries to rout;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">he put them to everlasting disgrace.</span></span></p></div> <div class="poetry top-1"><p class="line"><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">67</span>He rejected the tent of Joseph,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">68</span>but he chose the tribe of Judah,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">Mount Zion, which he loves.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">69</span>He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">like the earth, which he has founded forever.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">70</span>He chose his servant David,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and took him from the sheepfolds;</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">71</span>from tending the nursing ewes he brought him</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">of Israel, his inheritance.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">72</span>With upright heart he tended them,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and guided them with skillful hand.</span></span></p></div> <A name="fen"></a><div class="footnotes"><h4>Footnotes</h4><ol><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Psalm 78:9">Psalm 78:9</a> <span class='footnote-text'>Heb <i>armed with shooting</i></span></li></ol></div> <!--end of footnotes--></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../psalms/77.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Psalm 77"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Psalm 77" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../psalms/79.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Psalm 79"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Psalm 79" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>