Psalm 78:1-72 CEV

[1] My friends, I beg you to listen as I teach. [2] I will give instruction and explain the mystery of what happened long ago. [3] These are things we learned from our ancestors, [4] and we will tell them to the next generation. We won't keep secret the glorious deeds and the mighty miracles of the LORD. [5] God gave his Law to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel. And he told our ancestors to teach their children, [6] so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next. [7] Then they would trust God and obey his teachings, without forgetting anything God had done. [8] They would be different from their ancestors, who were stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful to God. [9] The warriors from Ephraim were armed with arrows, but they ran away when the battle began. [10] They broke their agreement with God, and they turned their backs on his teaching. [11] They forgot all he had done, even the mighty miracles [12] he did for their ancestors near Zoan in Egypt. [13] God made a path in the sea and piled up the water as he led them across. [14] He guided them during the day with a cloud, and each night he led them with a flaming fire. [15] God made water flow from rocks he split open in the desert, and his people drank freely, as though from a lake. [16] He made streams gush out like rivers from rocks. [17] But in the desert, the people of God Most High kept sinning and rebelling. [18] They stubbornly tested God and demanded from him what they wanted to eat. [19] They challenged God by saying, "Can God provide food out here in the desert? [20] It's true God struck the rock and water gushed out like a river, but can he give his people bread and meat?" [21] When the LORD heard this, he was angry and furious with Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel. [22] They had refused to trust him, and they had doubted his saving power. [23] But God gave a command to the clouds, and he opened the doors in the skies. [24] From heaven he sent grain that they called manna. [25] He gave them more than enough, and each one of them ate this special food. [26] God's mighty power brought a strong wind from the southeast, [27] and it brought birds that covered the ground, like sand on the beach. [28] Then God made the birds fall in the camp of his people near their tents. [29] God gave his people all they wanted, and each of them ate until they were full. [30] But before they had swallowed the last bite, [31] God became angry and killed the strongest and best from the families of Israel. [32] But the rest kept on sinning and would not trust God's miracles. [33] So he cut their lives short and made them terrified. [34] After he killed some of them, the others turned to him with all their hearts. [35] They remembered God Most High, the mighty rock that kept them safe. [36] But they tried to flatter God, and they told him lies; [37] they were unfaithful and broke their promises. [38] Yet God was kind. He kept forgiving their sins and didn't destroy them. He often became angry, but never lost his temper. [39] God remembered that they were made of flesh and were like a wind that blows once and then dies down. [40] While they were in the desert, they often rebelled and made God sad. [41] They kept testing him and caused terrible pain for the Holy One of Israel. [42] They forgot about his power and how he had rescued them from their enemies. [43] God showed them all kinds of wonderful miracles near Zoan in Egypt. [44] He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood, and no one could drink from the streams. [45] He sent swarms of flies to pester the Egyptians, and he sent frogs to cause them trouble. [46] God let worms and grasshoppers eat their crops. [47] He destroyed their grapevines and their fig trees with hail and floods. [48] Then he killed their cattle with hail and their other animals with lightning. [49] God was so angry and furious that he went into a rage and caused them great trouble by sending swarms of destroying angels. [50] God gave in to his anger and slaughtered them in a terrible way. [51] He killed the first-born son of each Egyptian family. [52] Then God led his people out of Egypt and guided them in the desert like a flock of sheep. [53] He led them safely along, and they were not afraid, but their enemies drowned in the sea. [54] God brought his people to the sacred mountain that he had taken by his own power. [55] He made nations run from the tribes of Israel, and he let the tribes take over their land. [56] But the people tested God Most High, and they refused to obey his laws. [57] They were as unfaithful as their ancestors, and they were as crooked as a twisted arrow. [58] God demanded all their love, but they made him angry by worshiping idols. [59] So God became furious and completely rejected the people of Israel. [60] Then he deserted his home at Shiloh, where he lived here on earth. [61] He let enemies capture the sacred chest and let them dishonor him. [62] God took out his anger on his chosen ones and let them be killed by enemy swords. [63] Fire destroyed the young men, and the young women were left with no one to marry. [64] Priests died violent deaths, but their widows were not allowed to mourn. [65] Finally the Lord woke up, and he shouted like a drunken soldier. [66] God scattered his enemies and made them ashamed forever. [67] Then the Lord decided not to make his home with Joseph's descendants in Ephraim. [68] Instead he chose the tribe of Judah, and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves. [69] There he built his temple as lofty as the mountains and as solid as the earth that he had made to last forever. [70] The Lord God chose David to be his servant and took him from tending sheep [71] and from caring for lambs. Then God made him the leader of Israel, his own nation. [72] David treated the people fairly and guided them with wisdom.