78 A maskil
of Asaph.
Give ear, my people, to my teaching,
turn your ear to what I say.
2I will expound a theme,
hold forth on the lessons of the past,
3things we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
4We will not withhold them from their children,
telling the coming generation
the praises of the Lord and His might,
and the wonders He performed.
5He established a decree in Jacob,
ordained a teaching in Israel,
charging our fathers
to make them known to their children,
6that a future generation might know
—children yet to be born—
and in turn tell their children
7that they might put their confidence in God,
and not forget God’s great deeds,
but observe His commandments,
8and not be like their fathers,
a wayward and defiant generation,
a generation whose heart was inconstant,
whose spirit was not true to God.
9Like the Ephraimite bowmen
who played false in the day of battle,
10they did not keep God’s covenant,
they refused to follow His instruction;
11they forgot His deeds
and the wonders that He showed them.
12He performed marvels in the sight of their
fathers,
in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.
13He split the sea and took them through it;
He made the waters stand like a wall.
14He led them with a cloud by day,
and throughout the night by the light of fire.
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as if from the great deep.
16He brought forth streams from a rock
and made them flow down like a river.
17But they went on sinning against Him,
defying the Most High in the parched land.
18To test God was in their mind
when they demanded food for themselves.
19They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a feast in the wilderness?
20True, He struck the rock and waters flowed,
streams gushed forth;
but can He provide bread?
Can He supply His people with meat?”
21The Lord heard and He raged;
fire broke out against Jacob,
anger flared up at Israel,
22because they did not put their trust in God,
did not rely on His deliverance.
23So He commanded the skies above,
He opened the doors of heaven
24and rained manna upon them for food,
giving them heavenly grain.
25Each man ate a hero’s meal;
He sent them provision in plenty.
26He set the east wind moving in heaven,
and drove the south wind by His might.
27He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sands of the sea,
28making them come down inside His camp,
around His dwelling-place.
29They ate till they were sated;
He gave them what they craved.
30They had not yet wearied of what they craved,
the food was still in their mouths
31when God’s anger flared up at them.
He slew their sturdiest,
struck down the youth of Israel.
32Nonetheless, they went on sinning
and had no faith in His wonders.
33He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden death.
34When He struck them, they turned to Him
and sought God once again.
35They remembered that God was their rock,
God Most High, their Redeemer.
36Yet they deceived Him with their speech,
lied to Him with their words;
37their hearts were inconstant toward Him;
they were untrue to His covenant.
38But He, being merciful, forgave iniquity
and would not destroy;
He restrained His wrath time and again
and did not give full vent to His fury;
39for He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breath that does not return.
40How often did they defy Him in the wilderness,
did they grieve Him in the wasteland!
41Again and again they tested God,
vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember His strength,
or the day He redeemed them from the foe;
43how He displayed His signs in Egypt,
His wonders in the plain of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers into blood;
He made their waters undrinkable.
45He inflicted upon them swarms of insects to
devour them,
frogs to destroy them.
46He gave their crops over to grubs,
their produce to locusts.
47He killed their vines with hail,
their sycamores with frost.
48He gave their beasts over to hail,
their cattle to lightning bolts.
49He inflicted His burning anger upon them,
wrath, indignation, trouble,
a band of deadly messengers.
50He cleared a path for His anger;
He did not stop short of slaying them,
but gave them over to pestilence.
51He struck every first-born in Egypt,
the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
52He set His people moving like sheep,
drove them like a flock in the wilderness.
53He led them in safety; they were unafraid;
as for their enemies, the sea covered them.
54He brought them to His holy realm,
the mountain His right hand had acquired.
55He expelled nations before them,
settled the tribes of Israel in their tents,
allotting them their portion by the line.
56Yet they defiantly tested God Most High,
and did not observe His decrees.
57They fell away, disloyal like their fathers;
they played false like a treacherous bow.
58They vexed Him with their high places;
they incensed Him with their idols.
59God heard it and was enraged;
He utterly rejected Israel.
60He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He had set among men.
61He let His might go into captivity,
His glory into the hands of the foe.
62He gave His people over to the sword;
He was enraged at His very own.
63Fire consumed their young men,
and their maidens remained unwed.
64Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65The Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shaking off wine.
66He beat back His foes,
dealing them lasting disgrace.
67He rejected the clan of Joseph;
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68He did choose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.
69He built His Sanctuary like the heavens,
like the earth that He established forever.
70He chose David, His servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71He brought him from minding the nursing ewes
to tend His people Jacob, Israel, His very own.
72He tended them with blameless heart;
with skillful hands he led them. |
105 Praise the Lord;
call on His name;
proclaim His deeds among the peoples.
2Sing praises to Him;
speak of all His wondrous acts.
3Exult in His holy name;
let all who seek the Lord rejoice.
4Turn to the Lord, to His might;
seek His presence constantly.
5Remember the wonders He has done,
His portents and the judgments He has
pronounced,
6O offspring of Abraham, His
servant,
O descendants of Jacob, His chosen ones.
7He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are throughout the earth.
8He is ever mindful of His
covenant,
the promise He gave for a thousand
generations,
9that He made with Abraham,
swore to Isaac,
10and confirmed in a decree for
Jacob,
for Israel, as an eternal covenant,
11saying, “To you I will give
the land of Canaan
as your allotted heritage.”
12They were then few in number,
a mere handful, sojourning there,
13wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14He allowed no one to oppress
them;
He reproved kings on their account,
15“Do not touch My anointed
ones;
do not harm My prophets.”
16He called down a famine on the
land,
destroyed every staff of bread.
17He sent ahead of them a man,
Joseph, sold into slavery.
18His feet were subjected to
fetters;
an iron collar was put on his neck.
19Until his prediction came true
the decree of the Lord purged him.
20The king sent to have him freed;
the ruler of nations released him.
21He made him the lord of his
household,
empowered him over all his possessions,
22to discipline his princes at
will,
to teach his elders wisdom.
23Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24He made His people very
fruitful,
more numerous than their foes.
25He changed their heart to hate
His people,
to plot against His servants.
26He sent His servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27They performed His signs among
them,
His wonders, against the land of Ham.
28He sent darkness; it was very
dark;
did they not defy His word?
29He turned their waters into
blood
and killed their fish.
30Their land teemed with frogs,
even the rooms of their king.
31Swarms of insects came at His
command,
lice, throughout their country.
32He gave them hail for rain,
and flaming fire in their land.
33He struck their vines and fig
trees,
broke down the trees of their country.
34Locusts came at His command,
grasshoppers without number.
35They devoured every green thing
in the land;
they consumed the produce of the soil.
36He struck down every first-born
in the land,
the first fruit of their vigor.
37He led Israel out with silver
and gold;
none among their tribes faltered.
38Egypt rejoiced when they left,
for dread of Israel had fallen upon
them.
39He spread a cloud for a cover,
and fire to light up the night.
40They asked and He brought them
quail,
and satisfied them with food from
heaven.
41He opened a rock so that water
gushed forth;
it flowed as a stream in the parched
land.
42Mindful of His sacred promise
to His servant Abraham,
43He led His people out in
gladness,
His chosen ones with joyous song.
44He gave them the lands of
nations;
they inherited the wealth of peoples,
45that they might keep His laws
and observe His teachings.
Hallelujah.
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