Psalm 78:1-72 CEB

[1] Listen, my people, to my teaching; tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth. [2] I will open my mouth with a proverb. I’ll declare riddles from days long gone— [3] ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. [4] We won’t hide them from their descendants; we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the LORD and his strength—the wondrous works God has done. [5] He established a law for Jacob and set up Instruction for Israel, ordering our ancestors to teach them to their children. [6] This is so that the next generation and children not yet born will know these things, and so they can rise up and tell their children [7] to put their hope in God—never forgetting God’s deeds, but keeping God’s commandments— [8] and so that they won’t become like their ancestors: a rebellious, stubborn generation, a generation whose heart wasn’t set firm and whose spirit wasn’t faithful to God. [9] The children of Ephraim, armed with bows, retreated on the day of battle. [10] They didn’t keep God’s covenant; they refused to walk in his Instruction. [11] They forgot God’s deeds as well as the wondrous works he showed them. [12] But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence—in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. [13] God split the sea and led them through, making the waters stand up like a wall. [14] God led them with the cloud by day; by the lightning all through the night. [15] God split rocks open in the wilderness, gave them plenty to drink—as if from the deep itself! [16] God made streams flow from the rock, made water run like rivers. [17] But they continued to sin against God, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. [18] They tested God in their hearts, demanded food for their stomachs. [19] They spoke against God! “Can God set a dinner table in the wilderness?” they asked. [20] “True, God struck the rock and water gushed and streams flowed, but can he give bread too? Can he provide meat for his people?” [21] When the LORD heard this, he became furious. A fire was ignited against Jacob; wrath also burned against Israel [22] because they had no faith in God, because they didn’t trust his saving power. [23] God gave orders to the skies above, opened heaven’s doors, [24] and rained manna on them so they could eat. He gave them the very grain of heaven! [25] Each person ate the bread of the powerful ones; God sent provisions to satisfy them. [26] God set the east wind moving across the skies and drove the south wind by his strength. [27] He rained meat on them as if it were dust in the air; he rained as many birds as the sand on the seashore! [28] God brought the birds down in the center of their camp, all around their dwellings. [29] So they ate and were completely satisfied; God gave them exactly what they had craved. [30] But they didn’t stop craving—even with the food still in their mouths! [31] So God’s anger came up against them: he killed the most hearty of them; he cut down Israel’s youth in their prime. [32] But in spite of all that, they kept sinning and had no faith in God’s wondrous works. [33] So God brought their days to an end, like a puff of air, and their years in total ruin. [34] But whenever God killed them, they went after him! They would turn and earnestly search for God. [35] They would remember that God was their rock, that the Most High was their redeemer. [36] But they were just flattering him with lip service. They were lying to him with their tongues. [37] Their hearts weren’t firmly set on him; they weren’t faithful to his covenant. [38] But God, being compassionate, kept forgiving their sins, kept avoiding destruction; he took back his anger so many times, wouldn’t stir up all his wrath! [39] God kept remembering that they were just flesh, just breath that passes and doesn’t come back. [40] How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness and distressed him in the desert! [41] Time and time again they tested God, provoking the holy one of Israel. [42] They didn’t remember God’s power—the day when he saved them from the enemy; [43] how God performed his signs in Egypt, his marvelous works in the field of Zoan. [44] God turned their rivers into blood; they couldn’t drink from their own streams. [45] God sent swarms against them to eat them up, frogs to destroy them. [46] God handed over their crops to caterpillars, their land’s produce to locusts. [47] God killed their vines with hail, their sycamore trees with frost. [48] God delivered their cattle over to disease, their herds to plagues. [49] God unleashed his burning anger against them—fury, indignation, distress, a troop of evil messengers. [50] God blazed a path for his wrath. He didn’t save them from death, but delivered their lives over to disease. [51] God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males; in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy. [52] God led his own people out like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the wilderness. [53] God led them in safety—they were not afraid! But the sea engulfed their enemies! [54] God brought them to his holy territory, to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired. [55] God drove out the nations before them and apportioned property for them; he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents. [56] But they tested and defied the Most High God; they didn’t pay attention to his warnings. [57] They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors; they twisted away like a defective bow. [58] They angered God with their many shrines; they angered him with their idols. [59] God heard and became enraged; he rejected Israel utterly. [60] God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh, the tent where he had lived with humans. [61] God let his power be held captive, let his glory go to the enemy’s hand. [62] God delivered his people up to the sword; he was enraged at his own possession. [63] Fire devoured his young men, and his young women had no wedding songs. [64] God’s priests were killed by the sword, and his widows couldn’t even cry. [65] But then my Lord woke up—as if he’d been sleeping! Like a warrior shaking off wine, [66] God beat back his foes; he made them an everlasting disgrace. [67] God rejected the tent of Joseph and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim. [68] Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves. [69] God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven and like the earth, which he established forever. [70] And God chose David, his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds. [71] God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes to shepherd his people Jacob, to shepherd his inheritance, Israel. [72] David shepherded them with a heart of integrity; he led them with the skill of his hands.