Psalm 78:40-72
New English Translation
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
and insulted him[a] in the wastelands.
41 They again challenged God,[b]
and offended[c] the Holy One of Israel.[d]
42 They did not remember what he had done,[e]
how he delivered them from the enemy,[f]
43 when he performed his awesome deeds[g] in Egypt,
and his acts of judgment[h] in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them,[i]
as well as frogs that overran their land.[j]
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.
48 He rained hail down on their cattle,[k]
and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.[l]
49 His raging anger lashed out against them.[m]
He sent fury, rage, and trouble
as messengers who bring disaster.[n]
50 He sent his anger in full force.[o]
He did not spare them from death;
he handed their lives over to destruction.[p]
51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power[q] in the tents of Ham.
52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;
he led them through the wilderness like a flock.
53 He guided them safely along, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
to this mountainous land[r] that his right hand[s] acquired.
55 He drove the nations out from before them;
he assigned them their tribal allotments[t]
and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.[u]
56 Yet they challenged and defied[v] God Most High,[w]
and did not obey[x] his commands.[y]
57 They were unfaithful[z] and acted as treacherously as[aa] their ancestors;
they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.[ab]
58 They made him angry with their pagan shrines,[ac]
and made him jealous with their idols.
59 God heard and was angry;
he completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned[ad] the sanctuary at Shiloh,
the tent where he lived among men.
61 He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured;[ae]
he gave the symbol of his splendor[af] into the hand of the enemy.[ag]
62 He delivered his people over to the sword,
and was angry with his chosen nation.[ah]
63 Fire consumed their[ai] young men,
and their[aj] virgins remained unmarried.[ak]
64 Their[al] priests fell by the sword,
but their[am] widows did not weep.[an]
65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep;[ao]
he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.[ap]
66 He drove his enemies back;
he made them a permanent target for insults.[aq]
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose the tribe of Judah
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above,[ar]
as secure as the earth, which he established permanently.[as]
70 He chose David, his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 He took him away from following the mother sheep,[at]
and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and of Israel, his chosen nation.[au]
72 David[av] cared for them with pure motives;[aw]
he led them with skill.[ax]
Footnotes
- Psalm 78:40 tn Or “caused him pain.”
- Psalm 78:41 tn Heb “and they returned and tested God.” The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate that an earlier action was repeated.
- Psalm 78:41 tn Or “wounded, hurt.” The verb occurs only here in the OT.
- Psalm 78:41 sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. This expression is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah.
- Psalm 78:42 tn Heb “his hand,” symbolizing his saving activity and strength, as the next line makes clear.
- Psalm 78:42 tn Heb “[the] day [in] which he ransomed them from [the] enemy.”
- Psalm 78:43 tn Or “signs” (see Ps 65:8).
- Psalm 78:43 tn Or “portents, omens” (see Ps 71:7). The Egyptian plagues are referred to here (see vv. 44-51).
- Psalm 78:45 tn Heb “and he sent an insect swarm against them and it devoured them.”
- Psalm 78:45 tn Heb “and a swarm of frogs and it destroyed them.”
- Psalm 78:48 tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”
- Psalm 78:48 tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.
- Psalm 78:49 tn Heb “he sent against them the rage of his anger.” The phrase “rage of his anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
- Psalm 78:49 tn Heb “fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of messengers of disaster.”
- Psalm 78:50 tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.
- Psalm 78:50 tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”
- Psalm 78:51 tn Heb “the beginning of strength.” If retained, the plural form אוֹנִים (ʾonim, “strength”) probably indicates degree (“great strength”), but many ancient witnesses read “their strength,” which presupposes an emendation to אֹנָם (ʾonam; singular form of the noun with third masculine plural pronominal suffix).
- Psalm 78:54 tn Heb “this mountain.” The whole land of Canaan seems to be referred to here. In Exod 15:17 the promised land is called the “mountain of your [i.e., God’s] inheritance.”
- Psalm 78:54 tn The “right hand” here symbolizes God’s military strength (see v. 55).
- Psalm 78:55 tn Heb “he caused to fall [to] them with a measuring line an inheritance.”
- Psalm 78:55 tn Heb “and caused the tribes of Israel to settle down in their tents.”
- Psalm 78:56 tn Or “tested and rebelled against.”
- Psalm 78:56 sn The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן ʿelyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
- Psalm 78:56 tn Or “keep.”
- Psalm 78:56 tn Heb “his testimonies” (see Ps 25:10).
- Psalm 78:57 tn Heb “they turned back.”
- Psalm 78:57 tn Or “acted treacherously like.”
- Psalm 78:57 tn Heb “they turned aside like a deceitful bow.”
- Psalm 78:58 tn Traditionally, “high places.”
- Psalm 78:60 tn Or “rejected.”
- Psalm 78:61 tn Heb “and he gave to captivity his strength.” The expression “his strength” refers metonymically to the ark of the covenant, which was housed in the tabernacle at Shiloh.
- Psalm 78:61 tn Heb “and his splendor into the hand of an enemy.” The expression “his splendor” also refers metonymically to the ark of the covenant.
- Psalm 78:61 sn Verses 60-61 refer to the Philistines’ capture of the ark in the days of Eli (1 Sam 4:1-11).
- Psalm 78:62 tn Heb “his inheritance.”
- Psalm 78:63 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
- Psalm 78:63 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
- Psalm 78:63 tn Heb “were not praised,” that is, in wedding songs. The young men died in masses, leaving no husbands for the young women.
- Psalm 78:64 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
- Psalm 78:64 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
- Psalm 78:64 sn Because of the invading army and the ensuing panic, the priests’ widows had no time to carry out the normal mourning rites.
- Psalm 78:65 tn Heb “and the master awoke like one sleeping.” The Lord’s apparent inactivity during the time of judgment is compared to sleep.
- Psalm 78:65 tn Heb “like a warrior overcome with wine.” The Hebrew verb רוּן (run, “overcome”) occurs only here in the OT. The phrase “overcome with wine” could picture a drunken warrior controlled by his emotions and passions (as in the present translation), or it could refer to a warrior who awakes from a drunken stupor.
- Psalm 78:66 tn Heb “a permanent reproach he made them.”
- Psalm 78:69 tc Heb “and he built like the exalting [ones] his sanctuary.” The phrase כְּמוֹ־רָמִים (kemo ramim, “like the exalting [ones]”) is a poetic form of the comparative preposition followed by a participial form of the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”). The text should be emended to כִּמְרֹמִים (kimromim, “like the [heavenly] heights”). See Ps 148:1, where “heights” refers to the heavens above.
- Psalm 78:69 tn Heb “like the earth, [which] he established permanently.” The feminine singular suffix on the Hebrew verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish”) refers to the grammatically feminine noun “earth.”
- Psalm 78:71 tn Heb “from after the ewes he brought him.”
- Psalm 78:71 tn Heb “to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.”
- Psalm 78:72 tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Psalm 78:72 tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”
- Psalm 78:72 tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”
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