40 How often they (A)rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And (B)grieved Him in the (C)desert!
41 Again and again they [a](D)tempted God,
And pained the (E)Holy One of Israel.
42 They (F)did not remember (G)His [b]power,
The day when He (H)redeemed them from the enemy,
43 When He performed His (I)signs in Egypt
And His (J)marvels in the field of Zoan,
44 And (K)turned their rivers to blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of (L)flies among them that devoured them,
And (M)frogs that destroyed them.
46 He also gave their crops to the (N)grasshopper
And the product of their labor to the (O)locust.
47 He [c]destroyed their vines with (P)hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He also turned their (Q)cattle over to the hailstones,
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
49 He (R)sent His burning anger upon them,
Fury and indignation and trouble,
A band of [d]destroying angels.
50 He leveled a path for His anger;
He did not spare their souls from death,
But (S)turned their lives over to the plague,
51 And (T)struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
The (U)first and best of their vigor in the tents of (V)Ham.
52 But He (W)led His own people out like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness (X)like a flock;
53 He led them (Y)safely, so that they did not fear;
But (Z)the sea engulfed their enemies.

54 So (AA)He brought them to His holy [e]land,
To this [f](AB)hill country (AC)which His right hand had gained.
55 He also (AD)drove out the nations from them
And (AE)apportioned them as an inheritance by measurement,
And had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they [g](AF)tempted and (AG)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But turned back and (AH)acted treacherously like their fathers;
They (AI)turned aside like a treacherous bow.
58 For they (AJ)provoked Him with their (AK)high places
And (AL)moved Him to jealousy with their (AM)carved images.
59 When God heard them, He [h]was filled with (AN)wrath
And He utterly (AO)rejected Israel;
60 So that He (AP)abandoned the (AQ)dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent [i]which He had pitched among people,
61 And He gave up His (AR)strength to captivity
And His glory (AS)into the hand of the enemy.
62 He also (AT)turned His people over to the sword,
And [j]was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63 (AU)Fire devoured [k]His young men,
And [l]His (AV)virgins had no wedding songs.
64 [m]His (AW)priests fell by the sword,
And [n]His (AX)widows could not weep.

65 Then the Lord (AY)awoke as if from sleep,
Like a (AZ)warrior [o]overcome by wine.
66 He [p](BA)drove His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting disgrace.
67 He also (BB)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount (BC)Zion, which He loved.
69 And He (BD)built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70 He also (BE)chose His servant David
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From [q](BF)the care of the [r]ewes (BG)with nursing lambs He brought him
To (BH)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel (BI)His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (BJ)integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 78:41 Or put God to the test
  2. Psalm 78:42 Lit hand
  3. Psalm 78:47 Lit was killing
  4. Psalm 78:49 Lit angels of evil ones; another reading is evil angels
  5. Psalm 78:54 Lit border, territory
  6. Psalm 78:54 Or mountain
  7. Psalm 78:56 Or put to the test
  8. Psalm 78:59 Or became infuriated
  9. Psalm 78:60 Some ancient versions where He dwelt
  10. Psalm 78:62 Or became infuriated
  11. Psalm 78:63 Or their
  12. Psalm 78:63 Or their
  13. Psalm 78:64 Or their
  14. Psalm 78:64 Or their
  15. Psalm 78:65 Or sobered up from
  16. Psalm 78:66 Lit struck
  17. Psalm 78:71 Lit following
  18. Psalm 78:71 Lit ewes that wet-nurse, He

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