Psalm 77 — The Holy Bible

Concerning understanding; for Asaph.

Give heed, O my people, to my law;

Incline your ear to the words of my mouth;

I shall open my mouth in parables;

I shall speak of hidden things from of old.

What things we heard, these we also knew,

And our fathers described them to us.

It was not hidden from their children in a different generation,

Who declare the praises of the Lord

And His mighty deeds

And His wondrous things He did.

He raised up a testimony in Jacob

And appointed a law in Israel,

Whatever He commanded our fathers

To make these things known to their children,

That a different generation may know,

Children yet to be born;

And they will arise, and declare these things to their children,

So they may put their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

And seek out His commandments,

So they may not become like their fathers,

A generation rebellious and embittered,

A generation that did not keep its heart right,

And its spirit was not faithful with God.

The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot their bows

Turned back in the day of battle.

They did not keep God's covenant,

And they did not desire to walk in His law;

And they forgot His good deeds

And His wonders He showed them

In the sight of their fathers,

The marvelous things He did

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He parted the sea and led them through;

The waters stood like a dam,

And He led them with a cloud by day,

And all night by the light of a fire.

He split the rock in the desert

And gave them water to drink as in a great deep;

And He brought out water from the rock,

And He brought it down like the waters of rivers.

And they still continued to sin against Him;

They rebelled against the Most High in a place without water,

And they tested God in their hearts

By asking food for their souls;

And they slandered God and said,

“Why is God unable to prepare a table in the desert?

Since He struck the rock, and waters flowed,

And brooks flooded,

Is He also unable to give us bread

Or to prepare a table for His people?”

Therefore, the Lord heard and was enraged,

And fire was kindled in Jacob,

And wrath arose against Israel,

Because they did not believe in God,

Nor put their hope in His salvation.

And He commanded the clouds above

And opened the doors of heaven;

And He rained manna for them to eat

And gave them the bread of heaven;

Man ate the bread of angels;

He sent them food in abundance.

He took away the south wind from heaven,

And with His power He brought in the southwest wind;

He rained flesh on them like dust

And winged birds like the sand of the sea,

And they fell in the midst of their camp,

All around their tents;

And they ate and were well filled,

And He brought them their own desire;

They were not deprived of their desire.

While their food was still in their mouth,

The wrath of God rose up against them,

And killed their wealthy ones

And shackled Israel's chosen ones.

In all these things they still sinned

And did not believe in His wonders;

And their days ended in folly

And their years with haste.

When He killed them, they sought Him out,

And turned back, and rose up early before God;

They remembered God was their helper,

And the Most High God their redeemer.

But they deceived Him with their mouth

And lied to Him with their tongue,

For their heart was not right with Him,

Neither were they faithful to His covenant.

But He is merciful

And will atone for their sins, and not destroy them;

And He will multiply them, and turn away His anger;

And He will not kindle all His wrath.

For He remembered they are flesh,

A spirit that is passing and not returning.

How many times did they rebel against Him in the desert,

And provoke Him to wrath in the desert?

And they turned away and tempted God,

And provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember His hand

And the day He redeemed them from the hand of those afflicting them,

How He wrought His signs in Egypt,

And His wonders in the plains of Zoan,

And how He turned their rivers and rainfalls into blood,

So they could not drink;

He sent them the dog-fly, and it devoured them,

And the frog, and it destroyed them.

He gave their fruit to the mildew

And their labors to the locust;

He killed their vineyard with hail

And their mulberry trees with frost;

And He delivered their cattle to the hail

And their property to the fire;

He sent forth the wrath of His anger to them,

Anger and wrath and affliction,

Sent forth through evil angels;

He made a path for His wrath;

He did not spare their souls from death,

And their cattle He enclosed in death;

And He struck every firstborn in Egypt,

The firstfruit of their labor in the tents of Ham.

And He brought His people out like sheep,

And He led them like a flock in the desert;

And He guided them in hope, and they were not afraid;

And the sea covered up their enemies.

He brought them into the mountain of His holiness,

This mountain His right hand acquired;

And He cast out the nations from before their face,

And distributed them a measure of land as an inheritance;

And He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

They tested and rebelled against the Most High God,

And did not keep His testimonies;

And they turned away and broke His covenant, just as their fathers did,

And they changed into a crooked bow;

And they provoked Him to anger with their high places,

And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

God heard and despised them,

And He utterly disdained Israel;

And He rejected the tabernacle at Shiloh,

His dwelling place, where He settled among men.

He gave their strength into captivity

And their beauty into the hands of the enemy;

And He gave His people over to the sword

And despised His inheritance.

Fire consumed their young men,

And their virgins were not lamented;

Their priests fell by the sword,

And their widows were not lamented.

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

Like a strong man drunk from wine;

And He struck His enemies from behind;

He gave them eternal reproach.

And He rejected the dwelling of Joseph

And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

He chose the tribe of Judah,

This Mount Zion that He loves;

And He built His sanctuary as the place of unicorns;

He founded it forever on the earth.

He chose David for His servant

And took him from the sheepfolds;

He took him from behind sheep that gave birth

To shepherd Jacob His people

And Israel His inheritance;

And he shepherded them in the integrity of his heart

And guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.