Psalm 78:9-39

9 The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law.^[a]

11 They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them.

12 He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan.^[b]

13 He split the sea and brought them across; the water stood firm like a wall.^[c]

14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a fiery light throughout the night.^[d]

15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.^[e]

16 He brought streams out of the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.^[f]

18 They deliberately^[g] tested God, demanding the food they craved.^[h]

19 They spoke against God, saying, "Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out; torrents overflowed. But can He also provide bread or furnish meat for His people?"^[i]

21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious; then fire broke out against Jacob, and anger flared up against Israel

22 because they did not believe God^[j] or rely on His salvation.

23 He gave a command to the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

25 People^[k] ate the bread of angels.^[l] He sent them an abundant supply of food.^[m]

26 He made the east wind blow in the skies and drove the south wind by His might.

27 He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas.

28 He made [them] fall in His camp, all around His tent.^{[n] [o]}

29 They ate and were completely satisfied, for He gave them what they craved.

30 Before they had satisfied their desire, while the food was still in their mouths,

31 God's anger flared up against them, and He killed some of their best men. He struck down Israel's choice young men.^[p]

32 Despite all this, they kept sinning and did not believe His wonderful works.

33 He made their days end in futility, their years in sudden disaster.

34 When He killed [some of] them, [the rest] began to seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

35 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God,^[q] their Redeemer.^[r]

36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, they lied to Him with their tongues,

37 their hearts were insincere toward Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.^[s]

38 Yet He was compassionate; He atoned for^[t] [their] guilt^[u] and did not destroy [them].^[v] He often turned His anger aside and did not unleash^[w] all His wrath.^[x]

39 He remembered that they were [only] flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

Psalm 78:9-39 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.

Footnotes

• [a] 1 Kg 11:11; 2 Kg 17:15; Jr 32:23
• [b] Ps 78:43; Ex 6-15
• [c] Ex 14:21; 15:8
• [d] Ex 13:21; Nm 14:14
• [e] Ex 17:6; Nm 20:8-13; Isa 48:21
• [f] Isa 63:10
• [g] Lit in their heart
• [h] Ex 17:2,7; Nm 14:22; 1 Co 10:5-10
• [i] Ex 16:3-36; Nm 11:4-34
• [j] Dt 9:23
• [k] Lit Man
• [l] Lit mighty ones
• [m] Ex 16:3-36; Jn 6:31
• [n] LXX, Syr read in their camp . . . their tents
• [o] Or in its camp, all around its tents
• [p] Nm 11:4-33
• [q] Gn 14:18-20
• [r] Ps 19:14; Dt 32:4,15; Isa 44:6,8
• [s] Ac 8:21
• [t] Or He wiped out, or He forgave
• [u] Pr 16:6; Isa 27:9; Dn 9:24
• [v] Dt 4:31; 2 Ch 7:14
• [w] Or stir up
• [x] Isa 12:1
• [y] Gn 6:3