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God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.

A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.

78 Listen, O my people, to my teaching;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth [and be willing to learn].

I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]—(A)

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

We will not hide them from their children,
But [we will] tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
And [tell of] His great might and power and the wonderful works that He has done.


For He established a testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach to their children [the great facts of God’s transactions with Israel],

That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born
May arise and recount them to their children,

That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,

And not be like their fathers—
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.


The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and carrying bows,
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10 
They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk according to His law;
11 
And they forgot His [incredible] works
And His miraculous wonders that He had shown them.
12 
He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].
13 
He divided the [Red] Sea and allowed them to pass through it,
And He made the waters stand up like [water behind] a dam.(B)
14 
In the daytime He led them with a cloud
And all the night with a light of fire.(C)
15 
He split rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant [water to] drink like the ocean depths.
16 
He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]
And caused waters to run down like rivers.(D)

17 
Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 
And in their hearts they put God to the test
By asking for food according to their [selfish] appetite.
19 
Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare [food for] a table in the wilderness?
20 
“Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out
And the streams overflowed;
Can He give bread also?
Or will He provide meat for His people?”

21 
Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
And His anger mounted up against Israel,
22 
Because they did not believe in God [they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him],
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).
23 
Yet He commanded the clouds from above
And opened the doors of heaven;
24 
And He rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them the grain of heaven.(E)
25 
Man ate the bread of angels;
God sent them provision in abundance.
26 
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
And by His [unlimited] power He guided the south wind.
27 
He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas.(F)
28 
And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
Around their tents.
29 
So they ate and were well filled,
He gave them what they craved.
30 
Before they had satisfied their desire,
And while their food was in their mouths,(G)
31 
The wrath of God rose against them
And killed some of the strongest of them,
And subdued the choice young men of Israel.
32 
In spite of all this they still sinned,
For they did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.
33 
Therefore He consumed their days like a breath [in emptiness and futility]
And their years in sudden terror.

34 
When He killed [some of] them, then those remaining sought Him,
And they returned [to Him] and searched diligently for God [for a time].
35 
And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36 
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths
And lied to Him with their tongues.
37 
For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant.(H)
38 
[a]But He, the source of compassion and lovingkindness, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;
Many times He restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.
39 
For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh,
A wind that goes and does not return.

40 
How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the desert!
41 
Again and again they tempted God,
And distressed the Holy One of Israel.
42 
They did not remember [the miracles worked by] His [powerful] hand,
Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43 
How He worked His miracles in Egypt
And His wonders in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided],
44 
And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 
He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,
And frogs which destroyed them.
46 
He also gave their crops to the grasshopper,
And the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 
He destroyed their vines with [great] hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 
He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones,
And their flocks and herds to thunderbolts.(I)
49 
He sent upon them His burning anger,(J)
His fury and indignation and distress,
A band of angels of destruction [among them].
50 
He leveled a path for His anger [to give it free run];
He did not spare their souls from death,
But turned over their lives to the plague.
51 
He killed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first and best of their strength in the tents [of the land of the sons] of Ham.
52 
But God led His own people forward like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness like [a good shepherd with] a flock.
53 
He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies.(K)

54 
So He brought them to His holy land,
To this mountain [Zion] which His right hand had acquired.
55 
He also drove out the nations before the sons of Israel
And allotted their land as an inheritance, measured out and partitioned;
And He had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents [the tents of those who had been dispossessed].
56 
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).
57 
They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].
58 
For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].
59 
When God heard this, He was filled with [righteous] wrath;
And utterly rejected Israel, [greatly hating her ways],
60 
So that He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
The tent in which He had dwelled among men,
61 
And gave up His strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity,
And His glory into the hand of the enemy (the Philistines).(L)
62 
He also handed His people over to the sword,
And was infuriated with His inheritance (Israel).(M)
63 
The fire [of war] devoured His young men,
And His [bereaved] virgins had no wedding songs.
64 
His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep.(N)

65 
Then the Lord awakened as from sleep,
Like a [mighty] warrior who awakens from the sleep of wine [fully conscious of his power].
66 
He drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.
67 
Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim [in which the tabernacle stood].
68 
But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader],
Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].
69 
And He built His sanctuary [exalted] like the heights [of the heavens],
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70 
He also chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds;(O)
71 
[b]From [c]tending the ewes with nursing young He brought him
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.(P)
72 
So David shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart;
And guided them with his skillful hands.

A Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.

A Psalm of Asaph.

79 O God, the nations have invaded [the land of Your people] Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your sacred temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.

We have become an object of taunting to our neighbors [because of our humiliation],
A derision and mockery to those who encircle us.

How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?

Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.(Q)

For they have devoured Jacob
And made his pasture desolate.


O do not remember against us the sins and guilt of our forefathers.
Let Your compassion and mercy come quickly to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
Rescue us, forgive us our sins for Your name’s sake.
10 
Why should the [Gentile] nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let there be known [without delay] among the nations in our sight [and to this generation],
Your vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been poured out.
11 
Let the groaning and sighing of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your power keep safe those who are doomed to die.
12 
And return into the lap of our neighbors sevenfold
The taunts with which they have taunted You, O Lord.
13 
So we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
Will give You thanks forever;
We will declare and publish Your praise from generation to generation.

God Implored to Rescue His People from Their Calamities.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] “Lilies, a Testimony.” A Psalm of Asaph.

80 Hear us O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark of the covenant], shine forth!

Before [d]Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power
And come to save us!

Restore us, O God;
Cause Your face to shine on us [with favor and approval], and we will be saved.


O Lord God of hosts,
How long will You be angry with the prayers of Your people?

You have fed them the bread of tears,
And You have made them drink [bitter] tears in abundance.

You make us an object of contention to our neighbors,
And our enemies laugh [at our suffering] among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
And cause Your face to shine on us [with favor and approval], and we will be saved.


You uprooted a vine (Israel) from Egypt;
You drove out the [Canaanite] nations and planted the vine [in Canaan].

You cleared away the ground before it,
And it took deep root and filled the land.
10 
The mountains were covered with its shadow,
And its branches were like the cedars of God.
11 
Israel sent out its branches to the [Mediterranean] Sea,
And its branches to the [Euphrates] River.(R)
12 
Why have You broken down its [e]walls and hedges,
So that all who pass by pick its fruit?
13 
A boar from the woods eats it away,
And the insects of the field feed on it.

14 
Turn again [in favor to us], O God of hosts;
Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,
15 
Even the stock which Your right hand has planted,
And [look down on] the son that You have reared and strengthened for Yourself.
16 
It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your [angry] appearance.
17 
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.
18 
Then we shall not turn back from You;
Revive us and we will call on Your name.
19 
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
Cause Your face to shine on us [in favor and approval], and we shall be saved.

God’s Goodness and Israel’s Waywardness.

To the Chief Musician; set to the [f]Philistine lute. A Psalm of Asaph.

81 Sing aloud to God our strength;
Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).

Raise a song, sound the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.

Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
At the [g]full moon, on our feast day.

For this is a statute for Israel,
An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

He established it for a testimony in [h]Joseph
When He went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard the language [of One whom] I did not know, saying,


“I removed the burden from his shoulder;
His hands were freed from the basket.

“You called in [the time of] trouble and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.(S) Selah.

“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you—
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!

“Let there be no strange god among you,
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10 
“I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

11 
“But My people would not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not [consent to] obey Me.
12 
“So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in [the path of] their own counsel.(T)
13 
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
14 
“Then I would quickly subdue and humble their enemies
And turn My hand against their adversaries;
15 
Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him and cringe before Him,
And their time of punishment would be forever.
16 
“But I would feed Israel with the finest of the wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Unjust Judgments Rebuked.

A Psalm of Asaph.

82 God stands in the divine assembly;
He judges among the gods (divine beings).

How long will you judge unjustly
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.

Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.

Rescue the weak and needy;
Rescue them from the hand of the wicked.


The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.

I said, “You are [i]gods;
Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.(U)

“Nevertheless you will die like men
And fall like any one of the princes.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth!
For to You belong all the nations.(V)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 78:38 The ancient Sopherim, the Jewish scholars whose responsibility it was to do counts of all the letters, words, and verses of the OT, said that this verse marks the halfway point in Psalms.
  2. Psalm 78:71 The first impression one might receive from this passage is that God elevated David from the lowliest position in Israel to the highest. But the ancient rabbis said that God tested David’s skills and wisdom as a shepherd. For example, it is said that David held back the bigger sheep from the pasture and brought out the smaller ones first to graze on the tender grass. The rabbis represented God as saying, “He who knows how to shepherd the sheep, each one in proportion to its strength, shall come and shepherd My people.”
  3. Psalm 78:71 Lit following.
  4. Psalm 80:2 It is believed that these three tribes represented all twelve tribes of Israel, Benjamin being incorporated into Judah, Manasseh inhabiting the country beyond the Jordan, and Ephraim the remainder of the land. It was natural for the Israelites to think of the three in one group, for they had camped together on the west side of the tabernacle during the years in the wilderness, and they were also the only descendants of Jacob’s wife Rachel.
  5. Psalm 80:12 I.e. dry-stone walls, built without mortar from loose stones in the fields.
  6. Psalm 81:1 A technical musical term, meaning uncertain.
  7. Psalm 81:3 Or New Moon, lit covering, i.e. when the moon is “covered” or hidden. This was taken by the ancient rabbis to refer to the festival of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana).
  8. Psalm 81:5 Curiously, in this one verse Joseph’s name has an extra letter, an “h.” In an example of rabbinic lore, the ancient rabbis said that because Joseph sanctified the divine name in private (by resisting Potiphar’s wife) he merited having one letter of the divine name (Yahweh) added to his. Another rabbinic explanation is that when Pharaoh was about to elevate Joseph to power, the astrologers demanded that Joseph speak the 70 languages of the world. The angel Gabriel came to teach him, but Joseph was unable until Gabriel added to his name the extra letter from the divine name.
  9. Psalm 82:6 Most of the ancient rabbis understood the idea of “gods” referring to judges, but some applied vv 6, 7 to the Israelites at Sinai and maintained that they would have become immortal as a result of accepting the Law, if only they had not committed the sin of the golden calf.

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