Parallel Bible results for "psalms 78"

Psalm 78

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.

New Living Translation NLT

1 O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,

2 for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—

3 stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.

4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders.

5 For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,

6 so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children.

7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.

8 Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.

9 The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.

11 They forgot what he had done— the great wonders he had shown them,

12 the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.

13 For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!

14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.

15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.

16 He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!

17 Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18 They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.

19 They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.

20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out, but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”

21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel,

22 for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.

23 But he commanded the skies to open; he opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.

25 They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.

26 He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power.

27 He rained down meat as thick as dust— birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!

28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents.

29 The people ate their fill. He gave them what they craved.

30 But before they satisfied their craving, while the meat was yet in their mouths,

31 the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men. He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

32 But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.

33 So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.

34 When God began killing them, they finally sought him. They repented and took God seriously.

35 Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.

36 But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.

37 Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.

38 Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury!

39 For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.

41 Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies.

43 They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.

44 For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams.

45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.

46 He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts.

47 He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.

48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49 He loosed on them his fierce anger— all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.

50 He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.

51 He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.

52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.

53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies.

54 He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them.

55 He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

56 But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws.

57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow.

58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.

59 When God heard them, he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel.

60 Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.

61 He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.

62 He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.

63 Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs.

64 Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths.

65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.

66 He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame.

67 But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loved.

69 There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens, as solid and enduring as the earth.

70 He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens.

71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants— God’s own people, Israel.

72 He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.