New Living Translation

Darby Bible Translation

A psalma of Asaph.

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

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.

2

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

2

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

3

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

3

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told 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.

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.

5

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

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;

6

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

7

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

7

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

8

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

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.

9

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

9

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

10

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

10

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

11

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

11

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

12

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

12

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

13

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

13

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

14

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

14

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

15

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

15

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

16

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

16

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

17

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

17

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

18

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

18

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

19

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

19

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

20

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

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?

21

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

21

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

22

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

22

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

23

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

23

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

24

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

24

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

25

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

25

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

26

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

26

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

27

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

27

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

28

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

28

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

29

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

29

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

30

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

30

They were not alienated from their lust, their 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.

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.

32

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

32

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

33

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

33

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

34

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

34

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

35

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

35

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

36

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

36

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

37

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

37

For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in 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!

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:

39

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

39

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

40

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

40

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

41

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

41

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

42

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

42

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

43

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

43

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

44

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

44

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

45

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

45

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

46

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

46

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

47

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

47

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

48

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

48

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

49

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

49

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

50

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

50

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

51

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

51

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

52

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

52

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

53

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

53

And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and 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.

54

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

55

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

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.

56

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

56

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

57

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

57

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

58

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

58

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

59

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

59

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

60

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

60

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

61

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

61

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

62

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

62

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

63

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

63

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

64

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

64

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

65

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

65

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

66

He routed his enemies
and sent them to eternal shame.

66

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

67

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

67

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

68

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

68

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

69

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

69

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

70

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

70

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

71

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

71

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

72

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

72

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

Parallel

New Living Translation

Darby Bible Translation

Psalms 78

Psalms 78