Psalms 78 (I Will Open my Mouth in Parables)

Psalms Chapter 78

I Will Open my Mouth in Parables
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A Psalm of instruction for Asaph.

1 Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings which have been from the beginning. 3 All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us. 4 They were not hid from their children to a second generation; the fathers declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought.

5 And he raised up a testimony to Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children: 6 that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children. 7 That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments. 8 That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.

9 The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle. 10 They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law. 11 And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he had shewed them; 12 the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes. 13 He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle. 14 And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire. 15 He clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep. 16 And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers.

17 And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness. 18 And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls. 19 They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness? 20 Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?

21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel. 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation. 23 Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven. 24 and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven. 25 Man ate angels’ bread; he sent them provision to the full.

26 He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind. 27 And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas. 28 And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents. 29 So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire.

30 They were not disappointed of their desire: but when their food was yet in their mouth, 31 then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel.

32 In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles. 33 And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety.

34 When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God. 35 And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer. 36 Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38 But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy them: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger. 39 And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

40 How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and anger him in a dry land! 41 Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. 43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes: 44 and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink. 45 He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them. 46 And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust. 47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. 48 And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire. 49 He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels. 50 He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death; 51 and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham. 52 And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness. 53 And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies. 54 And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased. 55 And he cast out the nations before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies. 47 And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow. 48 And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 God heard and lightly regarded them, and greatly despised Israel. 60 And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men. 61 And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy’s hand. 62 And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance. 63 Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not. 64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for.

65 So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a might man who has been heated with wine. 66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach.

67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; 68 but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved. 69 And he built his sanctuary as the place of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth. 70 He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep. 71 He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. 72 So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.