Darby Bible Translation

New Living Translation

Hear My Teaching, My People

{An instruction. Of Asaph.} Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

1

A psalma of Asaph.

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

2

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter riddles from of old,

2

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

3

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us:

3

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

4

We will not hide [them] from their sons, shewing forth to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his marvellous works which he hath done.

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 established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

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

That the generation to come might know [them], the children that should be born; that they might rise up and tell [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

And that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but observe his commandments;

7

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

8

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

8

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

9

The sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle.

9

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

10

They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

10

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

11

And forgot his doings, and his marvellous works which he had shewn them.

11

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

12

In the sight of their fathers had he done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan.

12

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

13

He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; and made the waters to stand as a heap;

13

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

14

And he led them with a cloud in the daytime, and all the night with the light of fire.

14

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

15

He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as out of the depths, abundantly;

15

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

16

And he brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

16

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

17

Yet they still went on sinning against him, provoking the Most High in the desert;

17

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

18

And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;

18

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

19

And they spoke against God: they said, Is God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

19

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

20

Behold, he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; is he able to give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?

20

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

21

Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; and fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel:

21

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

22

Because they believed not in God, and confided not in his salvation;

22

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

23

Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of the heavens,

23

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

24

And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens.

24

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

25

Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.

25

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

26

He caused the east wind to rise in the heavens, and by his strength he brought the south wind;

26

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

27

And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,

27

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

28

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations:

28

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

29

And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.

29

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

30

They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths,

30

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

31

When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

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

For all this, they sinned still, and believed not in his marvellous works;

32

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

33

And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

33

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

34

When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after God;

34

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

35

And they remembered that God was their rock, and God, the Most High, their redeemer.

35

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

36

But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;

36

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

37

For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

37

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

38

But he was merciful: he forgave the iniquity, and destroyed [them] not; but many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his fury:

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

And he remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and cometh not again.

39

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

40

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

40

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

41

And they turned again and tempted God, and grieved the Holy One of Israel.

41

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

42

They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor,

42

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

43

How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan;

43

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

44

And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink;

44

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

45

He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them;

45

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

46

And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust;

46

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

47

He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones;

47

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

48

And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.

48

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

49

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress, -- a mission of angels of woes.

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 made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

50

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

51

And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham.

51

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

52

And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

52

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

53

And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies.

53

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

54

And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased;

54

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

55

And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

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 tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies,

56

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

57

And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow.

57

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

58

And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

58

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

59

God heard, and was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

59

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

60

And he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men,

60

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

61

And gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor;

61

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

62

And delivered up his people unto the sword, and was very wroth with his inheritance:

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

The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not praised in [nuptial] song;

63

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

64

Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.

64

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

65

Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine;

65

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

66

And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach.

66

He routed his enemies
and sent them to eternal shame.

67

And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,

67

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

68

But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved;

68

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

69

And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever.

69

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

70

And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

70

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

71

From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

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

And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.

72

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

Parallel

Darby Bible Translation

New Living Translation

Psalms 78

Psalms 78