Parallel Bible results for "psalms 78"

Psalm 78

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 A maskil of Asaf: Listen, my people, to my teaching; turn your ears to the words from my mouth.

2 I will speak to you in parables and explain mysteries from days of old.

3 The things which we have heard and known, and which our fathers told us

4 we will not hide from their descendants; we will tell the generation to come the praises of ADONAI and his strength, the wonders that he has performed.

5 He raised up a testimony in Ya'akov and established a Torah in Isra'el. He commanded our ancestors to make this known to their children,

6 so that the next generation would know it, the children not yet born, who would themselves arise and tell their own children,

7 who could then put their confidence in God, not forgetting God's deeds, but obeying his mitzvot.

8 Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn, rebellious generation, a generation with unprepared hearts, with spirits unfaithful to God.

9 The people of Efrayim, though armed with bows and arrows, turned their backs on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to live by his Torah.

11 They forgot what he had done, his wonders which he had shown them.

12 He had done wonderful things in the presence of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Tzo'an.

13 He split the sea and made them pass through, he made the waters stand up like a wall.

14 He also led them by day with a cloud and all night long with light from a fire.

15 He broke apart the rocks in the desert and let them drink as if from boundless depths;

16 yes, he brought streams out of the rock, making the water flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High;

18 in their hearts they tested God by demanding food that would satisfy their cravings.

19 Yes, they spoke against God by asking, "Can God spread a table in the desert?

20 True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, until the vadis overflowed; but what about bread? Can he give that? Can he provide meat for his people?"

21 Therefore, when ADONAI heard, he was angry; fire blazed up against Ya'akov; his anger mounted against Isra'el;

22 because they had no faith in God, no trust in his power to save.

23 So he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained down man on them as food; he gave them grain from heaven -

25 mortals ate the bread of angels; he provided for them to the full.

26 He stirred up the east wind in heaven, brought on the south wind by his power,

27 and rained down meat on them like dust, birds flying thick as the sand on the seashore.

28 He let them fall in the middle of their camp, all around their tents.

29 So they ate till they were satisfied; he gave them what they craved.

30 They were still fulfilling their craving, the food was still in their mouths,

31 when the anger of God rose up against them and slaughtered their strongest men, laying low the young men of Isra'el.

32 Still, they kept on sinning and put no faith in his wonders.

33 Therefore, he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.

34 When he brought death among them, they would seek him; they would repent and seek God eagerly,

35 remembering that God was their Rock, El 'Elyon their Redeemer.

36 But they tried to deceive him with their words, they lied to him with their tongues;

37 for their hearts were not right with him, and they were unfaithful to his covenant.

38 Yet he, because he is full of compassion, forgave their sin and did not destroy; many times he turned away his anger and didn't rouse all his wrath.

39 So he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that blows past and does not return.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wastelands!

41 Repeatedly they challenged God and pained the Holy One of Isra'el.

42 They didn't remember how he used his hand on the day he redeemed them from their enemy,

43 how he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Tzo'an.

44 He turned their rivers into blood, so they couldn't drink from their streams.

45 He sent swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave their harvest to shearer-worms, the fruit of their labor to locusts.

47 He destroyed their vineyards with hail and their sycamore-figs with frost.

48 Their cattle too he gave over to the hail and their flocks to lightning bolts.

49 He sent over them his fierce anger, fury, indignation and trouble, with a company of destroying angels

50 to clear a path for his wrath. He did not spare them from death, but gave them over to the plague,

51 striking all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But his own people he led out like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the desert.

53 He led them safely, and they weren't afraid, even when the sea overwhelmed their foes.

54 He brought them to his holy land, to the hill-country won by his right hand.

55 He expelled nations before them, apportioned them property to inherit and made Isra'el's tribes live in their tents.

56 Yet they tested El 'Elyon and rebelled against him, refusing to obey his instructions.

57 They turned away and were faithless, like their fathers; they were unreliable, like a bow without tension.

58 They provoked him with their high places and made him jealous with their idols.

59 God heard, and he was angry; he came to detest Isra'el completely.

60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent he had made where he could live among people.

61 He gave his strength into exile, his pride to the power of the foe.

62 He gave his people over to the sword and grew angry with his own heritage.

63 Fire consumed their young men, their virgins had no wedding-song,

64 their cohanim fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep.

65 Then Adonai awoke, as if from sleep, like a warrior shouting for joy from wine.

66 He struck his foes, driving them back and putting them to perpetual shame.

67 Rejecting the tents of Yosef and passing over the tribe of Efrayim,

68 he chose the tribe of Y'hudah, Mount Tziyon, which he loved.

69 He built his sanctuary like the heights; like the earth, he made it to last forever.

70 He chose David to be his servant, taking him from the sheep-yards;

71 from tending nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Ya'akov his people, Isra'el his heritage.

72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with skillful hands.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.

2 I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb; I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,

3 Stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother's knee.

4 We're not keeping this to ourselves, we're passing it along to the next generation - God's fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done.

5 He planted a witness in Jacob, set his Word firmly in Israel, Then commanded our parents to teach it to their children

6 So the next generation would know, and all the generations to come - Know the truth and tell the stories

7 can trust in God, Never forget the works of God but keep his commands to the letter.

8 Heaven forbid they should be like their parents, bullheaded and bad, A fickle and faithless bunch who never stayed true to God.

9 The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began.

10 They were cowards to God's Covenant, refused to walk by his Word.

11 They forgot what he had done - marvels he'd done right before their eyes.

12 He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.

13 He split the Sea and they walked right through it; he piled the waters to the right and the left.

14 He led them by day with a cloud, led them all the night long with a fiery torch.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness, gave them all they could drink from underground springs;

16 He made creeks flow out from sheer rock, and water pour out like a river.

17 All they did was sin even more, rebel in the desert against the High God.

18 They tried to get their own way with God, clamored for favors, for special attention.

19 They whined like spoiled children, "Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?

20 Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed, creeks cascaded from the rock. But how about some fresh-baked bread? How about a nice cut of meat?"

21 When God heard that, he was furious - his anger flared against Jacob, he lost his temper with Israel.

22 It was clear they didn't believe God, had no intention of trusting in his help.

23 But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.

24 He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven.

25 They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.

26 He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind.

27 This time it was birds that rained down - succulent birds, an abundance of birds.

28 He aimed them right for the center of their camp; all round their tents there were birds.

29 They ate and had their fill; he handed them everything they craved on a platter.

30 But their greed knew no bounds; they stuffed their mouths with more and more.

31 Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted - he cut down their brightest and best, he laid low Israel's finest young men.

32 And - can you believe it? - they kept right on sinning; all those wonders and they still wouldn't believe!

33 So their lives dribbled off to nothing - nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town.

34 When he cut them down, they came running for help; they turned and pled for mercy.

35 They gave witness that God was their rock, that High God was their redeemer,

36 But they didn't mean a word of it; they lied through their teeth the whole time.

37 They could not have cared less about him, wanted nothing to do with his Covenant.

38 And God? Compassionate! Forgave the sin! Didn't destroy! Over and over he reined in his anger, restrained his considerable wrath.

39 He knew what they were made of; he knew there wasn't much to them,

40 How often in the desert they had spurned him, tried his patience in those wilderness years.

41 Time and again they pushed him to the limit, provoked Israel's Holy God.

42 How quickly they forgot what he'd done, forgot their day of rescue from the enemy,

43 When he did miracles in Egypt, wonders on the plain of Zoan.

44 He turned the River and its streams to blood - not a drop of water fit to drink.

45 He sent flies, which ate them alive, and frogs, which bedeviled them.

46 He turned their harvest over to caterpillars, everything they had worked for to the locusts.

47 He flattened their grapevines with hail; a killing frost ruined their orchards.

48 He pounded their cattle with hail, let thunderbolts loose on their herds.

49 His anger flared, a wild firestorm of havoc, An advance guard of disease-carrying angels

50 to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives.

51 He killed all the Egyptian firstborns, lusty infants, offspring of Ham's virility.

52 Then he led his people out like sheep, took his flock safely through the wilderness.

53 He took good care of them; they had nothing to fear. The Sea took care of their enemies for good.

54 He brought them into his holy land, this mountain he claimed for his own.

55 He scattered everyone who got in their way; he staked out an inheritance for them - the tribes of Israel all had their own places.

56 But they kept on giving him a hard time, rebelled against God, the High God, refused to do anything he told them.

57 They were worse, if that's possible, than their parents: traitors - crooked as a corkscrew.

58 Their pagan orgies provoked God's anger, their obscene idolatries broke his heart.

59 When God heard their carryings-on, he was furious; he posted a huge No over Israel.

60 He walked off and left Shiloh empty, abandoned the shrine where he had met with Israel.

61 He let his pride and joy go to the dogs, turned his back on the pride of his life.

62 He turned them loose on fields of battle; angry, he let them fend for themselves.

63 Their young men went to war and never came back; their young women waited in vain.

64 Their priests were massacred, and their widows never shed a tear.

65 Suddenly the Lord was up on his feet like someone roused from deep sleep, shouting like a drunken warrior.

66 He hit his enemies hard, sent them running, yelping, not daring to look back.

67 He disqualified Joseph as leader, told Ephraim he didn't have what it takes,

68 And chose the Tribe of Judah instead, Mount Zion, which he loves so much.

69 He built his sanctuary there, resplendent, solid and lasting as the earth itself.

70 Then he chose David, his servant, handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens.

71 One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs, the next day God had him shepherding Jacob, his people Israel, his prize possession.

72 His good heart made him a good shepherd; he guided the people wisely and well.