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Psalm 78 New American Bible
<!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 American Bible</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 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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 American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch23078" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn23078" class="cn"><a class="xlef" hlef="#rbk23"><span class="ac">Psalm</span> 78</a><a id="rfn23078000-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078000-1">*</a></h1> <h1 class="cs">A New Beginning in Zion and David</h1> <p class="pf-center"><span id="v23078001" class="ver">1</span>A <i>maskil</i> of Asaph.</p> <p class="chsect">I</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">Attend, my people, to my teaching;</p> <p class="sl1">listen to the words of my mouth.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078002" class="ver">2</span>I will open my mouth in a parable,<a id="rfn23078002-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078002-1">*</a></p> <p class="sl1">unfold the puzzling events of the past.<a id="ren23078002-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078002-a">a</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078003" class="ver">3</span>What we have heard and know;</p> <p class="sl1">things our ancestors have recounted to us.<a id="ren23078003-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078003-b">b</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078004" class="ver">4</span>We do not keep them from our children;</p> <p class="sl1">we recount them to the next generation,</p> <p class="sl">The praiseworthy deeds of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> and his strength,</p> <p class="sl1">the wonders that he performed.<a id="ren23078004-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078004-c">c</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078005" class="ver">5</span>God made a decree in Jacob,</p> <p class="sl1">established a law in Israel:<a id="ren23078005-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078005-d">d</a></p> <p class="sl">Which he commanded our ancestors,</p> <p class="sl1">they were to teach their children;</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078006" class="ver">6</span>That the next generation might come to know,</p> <p class="sl1">children yet to be born.<a id="ren23078006-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078006-e">e</a></p> <p class="sl">In turn they were to recount them to their children,</p> <p class="sl1"><span id="v23078007" class="ver">7</span>that they too might put their confidence in God,</p> <p class="sl">And not forget God’s deeds,</p> <p class="sl1">but keep his commandments.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078008" class="ver">8</span>They were not to be like their ancestors,</p> <p class="sl1">a rebellious and defiant generation,<a id="ren23078008-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078008-f">f</a></p> <p class="sl">A generation whose heart was not constant,<a id="ren23078008-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078008-g">g</a></p> <p class="sl1">and whose spirit was not faithful to God.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078009" class="ver">9</span>The ranks of Ephraimite archers,<a id="rfn23078009-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078009-1">*</a></p> <p class="sl1">retreated on the day of battle.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078010" class="ver">10</span>They did not keep God’s covenant;</p> <p class="sl1">they refused to walk according to his law.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078011" class="ver">11</span>They forgot his deeds,</p> <p class="sl1">the wonders that he had shown them.</p> </div> <p class="chsect">II</p> <p class="chsubsect">A</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078012" class="ver">12</span>In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders,</p> <p class="sl1">in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.<a id="rfn23078012-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078012-1">*</a><a id="ren23078012-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078012-h">h</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078013" class="ver">13</span>He split the sea and led them across,<a id="ren23078013-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078013-i">i</a></p> <p class="sl1">making the waters stand like walls.<a id="ren23078013-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078013-j">j</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078014" class="ver">14</span>He led them with a cloud by day,</p> <p class="sl1">all night with the light of fire.<a id="ren23078014-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078014-k">k</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078015" class="ver">15</span>He split rocks in the desert,</p> <p class="sl1">gave water to drink, abundant as the deeps of the sea.<a id="ren23078015-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078015-l">l</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078016" class="ver">16</span>He made streams flow from crags,</p> <p class="sl1">caused rivers of water to flow down.</p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">B</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078017" class="ver">17</span>But they went on sinning against him,</p> <p class="sl1">rebelling against the Most High in the desert.<a id="ren23078017-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078017-m">m</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078018" class="ver">18</span>They tested God in their hearts,</p> <p class="sl1">demanding the food they craved.<a id="ren23078018-n" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078018-n">n</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078019" class="ver">19</span>They spoke against God, and said,</p> <p class="sl1">“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?<a id="ren23078019-o" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078019-o">o</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078020" class="ver">20</span>True, when he struck the rock,</p> <p class="sl1">water gushed forth,</p> <p class="sl1">the wadies flooded.</p> <p class="sl">But can he also give bread,</p> <p class="sl1">or provide meat to his people?”</p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">C</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078021" class="ver">21</span>The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> heard and grew angry;<a id="ren23078021-p" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078021-p">p</a></p> <p class="sl1">fire blazed up against Jacob;</p> <p class="sl1">anger flared up against Israel.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078022" class="ver">22</span>For they did not believe in God,</p> <p class="sl1">did not trust in his saving power.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078023" class="ver">23</span><a id="rfn23078023-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078023-1">*</a>So he commanded the clouds above;</p> <p class="sl1">and opened the doors of heaven.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078024" class="ver">24</span>God rained manna upon them for food;</p> <p class="sl1">grain from heaven he gave them.<a id="ren23078024-q" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078024-q">q</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078025" class="ver">25</span>Man ate the bread of the angels;<a id="rfn23078025-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078025-1">*</a></p> <p class="sl1">food he sent in abundance.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078026" class="ver">26</span>He stirred up the east wind in the skies;</p> <p class="sl1">by his might God brought on the south wind.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078027" class="ver">27</span>He rained meat upon them like dust,</p> <p class="sl1">winged fowl like the sands of the sea,</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078028" class="ver">28</span>They fell down in the midst of their camp,</p> <p class="sl1">all round their dwellings.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078029" class="ver">29</span>They ate and were well filled;</p> <p class="sl1">he gave them what they had craved.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078030" class="ver">30</span>But while they still wanted more,</p> <p class="sl1">and the food was still in their mouths,</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078031" class="ver">31</span>God’s anger flared up against them,</p> <p class="sl1">and he made a slaughter of their strongest,</p> <p class="sl1">laying low the youth of Israel.<a id="ren23078031-r" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078031-r">r</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078032" class="ver">32</span>In spite of all this they went on sinning,</p> <p class="sl1">they did not believe in his wonders.</p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">D</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078033" class="ver">33</span>God ended their days abruptly,</p> <p class="sl1">their years in sudden death.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078034" class="ver">34</span>When he slew them, they began to seek him;</p> <p class="sl1">they again looked for God.<a id="ren23078034-s" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078034-s">s</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078035" class="ver">35</span>They remembered<a id="rfn23078035-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078035-1">*</a> that God was their rock,</p> <p class="sl1">God Most High, their redeemer.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078036" class="ver">36</span>But they deceived him with their mouths,</p> <p class="sl1">lied to him with their tongues.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078037" class="ver">37</span>Their hearts were not constant toward him;</p> <p class="sl1">they were not faithful to his covenant.<a id="ren23078037-t" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078037-t">t</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078038" class="ver">38</span><a id="rfn23078038-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078038-1">*</a>But God being compassionate forgave their sin;</p> <p class="sl1">he did not utterly destroy them.</p> <p class="sl">Time and again he turned back his anger,</p> <p class="sl1">unwilling to unleash all his rage.<a id="ren23078038-u" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078038-u">u</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078039" class="ver">39</span>He remembered that they were flesh,</p> <p class="sl1">a breath that passes on and does not return.</p> </div> <p class="chsect">III</p> <p class="chsubsect">A</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078040" class="ver">40</span>How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness,</p> <p class="sl1">grieved him in the wasteland.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078041" class="ver">41</span>Again and again they tested God,</p> <p class="sl1">provoked the Holy One of Israel.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078042" class="ver">42</span>They did not remember his power,</p> <p class="sl1">the day he redeemed them from the foe,<a id="ren23078042-v" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078042-v">v</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078043" class="ver">43</span><a id="rfn23078043-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078043-1">*</a>When he performed his signs in Egypt,</p> <p class="sl1">his wonders in the plain of Zoan.<a id="ren23078043-w" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078043-w">w</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078044" class="ver">44</span>God turned their rivers to blood;</p> <p class="sl1">their streams they could not drink.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078045" class="ver">45</span>He sent swarms of insects that devoured them,<a id="ren23078045-x" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078045-x">x</a></p> <p class="sl1">frogs that destroyed them.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078046" class="ver">46</span>He gave their harvest to the caterpillar,</p> <p class="sl1">the fruits of their labor to the locust.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078047" class="ver">47</span>He killed their vines with hail,<a id="ren23078047-y" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078047-y">y</a></p> <p class="sl1">their sycamores with frost.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078048" class="ver">48</span>He exposed their cattle to plague,</p> <p class="sl1">their flocks to pestilence.<a id="ren23078048-z" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078048-z">z</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078049" class="ver">49</span>He let loose against them the heat of his anger,</p> <p class="sl1">wrath, fury, and distress,</p> <p class="sl1">a band of deadly messengers.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078050" class="ver">50</span>He cleared a path for his anger;</p> <p class="sl1">he did not spare them from death,</p> <p class="sl1">but delivered their animals to the plague.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078051" class="ver">51</span>He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,<a id="ren23078051-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078051-a">a</a></p> <p class="sl1">the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078052" class="ver">52</span>Then God led forth his people like sheep,</p> <p class="sl1">guided them like a flock through the wilderness.<a id="ren23078052-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078052-b">b</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078053" class="ver">53</span>He led them on secure and unafraid,</p> <p class="sl1">while the sea enveloped their enemies.<a id="ren23078053-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078053-c">c</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078054" class="ver">54</span>And he brought them to his holy mountain,</p> <p class="sl1">the hill his right hand had won.<a id="ren23078054-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078054-d">d</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078055" class="ver">55</span>He drove out the nations before them,</p> <p class="sl1">allotted them as their inherited portion,</p> <p class="sl1">and settled in their tents the tribes of Israel.</p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">B</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078056" class="ver">56</span>But they tested and rebelled against God Most High,</p> <p class="sl1">his decrees they did not observe.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078057" class="ver">57</span>They turned disloyal, faithless like their ancestors;</p> <p class="sl1">they proved false like a slack bow.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078058" class="ver">58</span>They enraged him with their high places,</p> <p class="sl1">and with their idols provoked him<a id="rfn23078058-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078058-1">*</a> to jealous anger.<a id="ren23078058-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078058-e">e</a></p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">C</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078059" class="ver">59</span>God heard and grew angry;</p> <p class="sl1">he rejected Israel completely.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078060" class="ver">60</span>He forsook the shrine at Shiloh,<a id="rfn23078060-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078060-1">*</a><a id="ren23078060-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078060-f">f</a></p> <p class="sl1">the tent he set up among human beings.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078061" class="ver">61</span>He gave up his might into captivity,</p> <p class="sl1">his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.<a id="ren23078061-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078061-g">g</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078062" class="ver">62</span>God delivered his people to the sword;</p> <p class="sl1">he was enraged against his heritage.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078063" class="ver">63</span>Fire consumed their young men;</p> <p class="sl1">their young women heard no wedding songs.<a id="ren23078063-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078063-h">h</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078064" class="ver">64</span>Their priests fell by the sword;</p> <p class="sl1">their widows made no lamentation.</p> </div> <p class="chsubsect">D</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v23078065" class="ver">65</span>Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,</p> <p class="sl1">like a warrior shouting from the effects of wine.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078066" class="ver">66</span>He put his foes to flight;</p> <p class="sl1">everlasting shame he dealt them.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078067" class="ver">67</span>He rejected the tent of Joseph,</p> <p class="sl1">chose not the tribe of Ephraim.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078068" class="ver">68</span><a id="rfn23078068-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn23078068-1">*</a>God chose the tribe of Judah,</p> <p class="sl1">Mount Zion which he loved.<a id="ren23078068-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078068-i">i</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078069" class="ver">69</span>He built his shrine like the heavens,</p> <p class="sl1">like the earth which he founded forever.</p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078070" class="ver">70</span>He chose David his servant,</p> <p class="sl1">took him from the sheepfolds.<a id="ren23078070-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078070-j">j</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078071" class="ver">71</span>From tending ewes God brought him,</p> <p class="sl1">to shepherd Jacob, his people,</p> <p class="sl1">Israel, his heritage.<a id="ren23078071-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en23078071-k">k</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v23078072" class="ver">72</span>He shepherded them with a pure heart;</p> <p class="sl1">with skilled hands he guided them.</p> </div> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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