Psalm
78 Friday &
Saturday 4 Seasonal. Sat: + “How often
they defied him…)
Listen, my people, to my teaching; * turn your ear to the words
of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable; * I will reveal riddles of
old.
What we have heard and know, * what our fathers have told us
we will not hide from our grandchildren, * but will tell the
next generation:
the glorious deeds of Yahweh and his triumph, * and his
miracles that he has worked.
He set up a decree in Jacob * and established a law in
Israel,
that what he commanded our fathers, * they should make
known to their sons,
so that the next generation might know, * the children yet
unborn * might arise and tell them to their children,
that they might put their hope in God, * and never forget the
deeds of El,
that they might ever keep his commands, * and not be like their
fathers:
a wayward and rebellious generation, * a generation whose heart
was not firm, * whose spirit was unfaithful to God.
The sons of Ephraim were his
bowmen, * his treacherous archers * who turned on the day of battle.
They failed to keep the
covenant with God, * and refused to walk according to his law.
They forgot his deeds, * the
wonders that he had shown them.
In the sight of their fathers he worked marvels, * in the land of
Egypt, in the plain of Zoan.
He split the sea and brought
them through; * he made the waters stand like a dike.
He led them by a cloud by day, * and through the night by light
of fire.
He split the rock in the
wilderness, * and watered the vast wasteland itself.
He made streams come out of
the crag, * and caused waters to run down like rivers.
Yet they continued to sin against him, * to defy the Most High in
the desert.
They tested God in their heart, * by demanding food for their
gullet.
They spoke against God and said, * “Can God prepare a table
in the wilderness?
Even though he struck the rock, * so that the water gushed
forth, * and streams swept down in torrents,
can he also give bread * or provide meat for his people?”
So when Yahweh heard them * he seethed with anger;
his fire flared up against Jacob, * and his anger rose
against Israel,
because they had no faith in God, * and did not trust his
saving power.
Yet he commanded the skies above, * and opened the doors
of heaven.
He rained down on them manna to eat, * and gave them the
grain of heaven.
Mere man ate the food of angels; * he sent them provisions
in abundance.
He let loose the east wind from heaven, * and led forth the
south wind from his fortress.
And he rained flesh on them
like dust, * winged fowl like the ocean sands.
He made them fall in the midst of their camp, * round about their
dwellings.
So they ate and had their fill; * he brought them what they
craved.
They did not desist from their complaining * with their food
still in their mouth.
God's anger rose against them; * he killed their sturdiest, *
and cut down the choice youth of Israel.
In spite of all this they went on sinning, * and did not
believe in his wonders.
Their days he made vanish more quickly than vapor, * and
their years more quickly than a fleeting phantom.
When he killed them they sought him; * they repented
and sought God in earnest.
They remembered that God was their Mountain, * and the
Most High God their Redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouth, * while they
lied to him with their tongue.
Their heart was not steadfast toward him; * they did
not believe in his covenant.
But he the Merciful forgave their sin, * and did not
destroy them.
He restrained his anger often, * and nurtured none of his
rage.
He remembered that they were but flesh, * a passing breath
that never returns.
+ How often they defied him in the wilderness, * and grieved him
in the desert!
Again and again they tempted God, * and provoked the Holy One of
Israel.
They did not remember his power, * the day when he ransomed them
from the adversary,
when he worked his miracles in Egypt, * and his prodigies in
the plain of Zoan,
when he turned into blood their rivers, * their streams so
that they could not drink.
He sent flies against them to devour them, * and frogs to
destroy them.
He gave their crops to the grasshopper, * the fruit of
their labor to the locust.
He killed their vines with hail, * and their sycamores
with frost.
He handed over their cattle to hail, * and their
flocks to thunderbolts.
He sent against them his blazing anger, * fury,
rage and havoc,
an escort of his devastating angels * to smooth
his path before him.
He did
not spare them from death, * but handed over their lives to the plague.
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, * the
first fruit of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
Then he led forth his people like sheep, * and
like a flock guided them through the wilderness.
He guided them securely and unafraid, * while
the sea engulfed their foes.
He brought them to his holy
Mount, * the mountain that his right hand had won.
He drove out nations before them, * cut them down
on their highlands; * and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
But they defiantly tempted God; * the Most High and
his commandments they did not heed.
They turned away and broke faith like their fathers; *
they gave way like a faulty bow.
They angered him with their hilltop shrines, * and
with their idols roused his jealousy.
God heard them and was enraged, * and his Greatness
rejected Israel.
He abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh, * the tent he pitched
among men.
He gave his fortress to the captors, * his glorious ark into
the hand of the enemy.
He handed over his people to the sword, * and vented his
anger on his patrimony.
Fire devoured their young men, * and their girls were not praised
in wedding song.
Their priests fell by the sword, * and their widows sang no
dirges.
Then the Lord awoke like one
who had slept, * like a warrior resting after wine.
He struck his adversaries on
the rear; * he covered them with everlasting shame.
He rejected the tents of Joseph, * and chose not the tribe of
Ephraim.
But he chose the tribe of Judah, * Mount Zion which he loved.
And he built his sanctuary
high like the heavens, * firm like the earth he established from eternity.
He chose David his servant, *
and took him from the sheepfolds.
From following ewes he
brought him * to shepherd Jacob his people, * and Israel his patrimony.
He tended them with blameless
heart, * and with skillful hands he guided them.
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