Psalms 78:38-72

38 Yet he, being 1compassionate, 2atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 He 3remembered that they were but 4flesh, 5a wind that passes and comes not again.
40 How often they 6rebelled against him in the wilderness and 7grieved him in 8the desert!
41 They 9tested God again and again and provoked 10the Holy One of Israel.
42 They 11did not remember his power[a] or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 12when he performed his 13signs in Egypt and his 14marvels in 15the fields of Zoan.
44 He 16turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of 17flies, which devoured them, and 18frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to 19the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with 20hail and their sycamores with frost.
48 He gave over their 21cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of 22destroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 He struck down every 23firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of 24Ham.
52 Then he led out his people 25like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 26He led them in safety, so that they 27were not afraid, but 28the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to his 29holy land, 30to the mountain which his right hand had 31won.
55 He 32drove out nations before them; he 33apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they 34tested and 35rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like 36a deceitful bow.
58 For they 37provoked him to anger with their 38high places; they 39moved him to jealousy with their 40idols.
59 When God heard, he was full of 41wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
60 He 42forsook his dwelling at 43Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
61 and delivered his 44power to captivity, his 45glory to the hand of the foe.
62 He 46gave his people over to the sword and 47vented his wrath on his heritage.
63 48Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no 49marriage song.
64 Their 50priests fell by the sword, and their 51widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord 52awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
66 And he 53put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of 54Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he 55loves.
69 He 56built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He 57chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from 58following the nursing ewes he brought him to 59shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his 60inheritance.
72 With 61upright heart he shepherded them and 62guided them with his skillful hand.

Psalms 78:38-72 Meaning and Commentary

Maschil of Asaph. Or for "Asaph" {f}; a doctrinal and "instructive" psalm, as the word "Maschil" signifies; see Psalm 32:1, which was delivered to Asaph to be sung; the Targum is, "the understanding of the Holy Spirit by the hands of Asaph." Some think David was the penman of it; but from the latter part of it, in which mention is made of him, and of his government of the people of Israel, it looks as if it was wrote by another, and after his death, though not long after, since the account is carried on no further than his times; and therefore it is probable enough it was written by Asaph, the chief singer, that lived in that age: whoever was the penman of it, it is certain he was a prophet, and so was Asaph, who is called a seer, the same with a prophet, and who is said to prophesy, 2 Chronicles 29:30 and also that he represented Christ; for that the Messiah is the person that is introduced speaking in this psalm is clear from Matthew 13:34 and the whole may be considered as a discourse of his to the Jews of his time; giving them an history of the Israelites from their first coming out of Egypt to the times of David, and in it an account of the various benefits bestowed upon them, of their great ingratitude, and of the divine resentment; the design of which is to admonish and caution them against committing the like sins, lest they should be rejected of God, as their fathers were, and perish: some Jewish writers, as Arama observes, interpret this psalm of the children of Ephraim going out of Egypt before the time appointed.

Cross References 62

  • 1. Exodus 34:6
  • 2. Numbers 14:20
  • 3. [Psalms 103:14; Job 10:9]
  • 4. Genesis 6:3
  • 5. Job 7:7
  • 6. ver. 17, 56; Psalms 107:11
  • 7. [Ephesians 4:30]
  • 8. Psalms 106:14
  • 9. See ver. 18
  • 10. See Psalms 71:22
  • 11. Judges 8:34
  • 12. For ver. 43-51, see Psalms 105:27-36
  • 13. Exodus 7:3; [Psalms 106:22]; Acts 7:36
  • 14. Exodus 4:21; Exodus 11:9, 10
  • 15. See ver. 12
  • 16. See Exodus 7:17-24
  • 17. See Exodus 8:21-24
  • 18. See Exodus 8:2-14
  • 19. See Exodus 10:12-15
  • 20. See Exodus 9:23-25
  • 21. See Exodus 9:19-21
  • 22. Exodus 12:13, 23; [2 Samuel 24:16]
  • 23. Exodus 12:29; [Psalms 105:36; Psalms 135:8; Psalms 136:10]
  • 24. Psalms 105:23, 27; Psalms 106:22
  • 25. See Psalms 77:20
  • 26. [Exodus 14:19, 20]
  • 27. [Exodus 14:13]
  • 28. Exodus 14:27, 28; Exodus 15:10
  • 29. Exodus 15:17
  • 30. Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 57:13; [Psalms 68:16]
  • 31. Psalms 74:2
  • 32. See Psalms 44:2
  • 33. Joshua 23:4; [Psalms 135:12; Psalms 136:21, 22; Acts 13:19]
  • 34. ver. 18; Judges 2:11, 12
  • 35. ver. 40
  • 36. Hosea 7:16; [ver. 9]
  • 37. Deuteronomy 31:29
  • 38. Leviticus 26:30; Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Kings 11:7; 1 Kings 12:31; Ezekiel 20:28
  • 39. Numbers 25:11; Deuteronomy 32:16, 21; Judges 2:12
  • 40. Deuteronomy 7:5, 25; Deuteronomy 12:3
  • 41. ver. 62; Psalms 106:40; Deuteronomy 3:26
  • 42. 1 Samuel 4:11; Jeremiah 7:12, 14; Jeremiah 26:6
  • 43. Joshua 18:1
  • 44. Psalms 132:8; [Psalms 63:2; Psalms 96:6]
  • 45. [1 Samuel 4:21]
  • 46. [1 Samuel 4:10]
  • 47. ver. 59
  • 48. [Psalms 79:5; Psalms 89:46]
  • 49. [Jeremiah 7:34]
  • 50. 1 Samuel 4:11
  • 51. Job 27:15
  • 52. Psalms 73:20; See Psalms 35:23
  • 53. [Psalms 40:14]
  • 54. Psalms 80:1; Psalms 81:5
  • 55. Psalms 87:2
  • 56. See 1 Kings 6
  • 57. 1 Samuel 16:12, 13
  • 58. 2 Samuel 7:8
  • 59. 2 Samuel 5:2; [Psalms 28:9]
  • 60. 1 Samuel 10:1
  • 61. Psalms 101:2; 1 Kings 9:4
  • 62. [Psalms 77:20]

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.