New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Psalm 78
1
A maskil of Asaph. My people, listen to my teaching. Pay attention to what I say.
2
I will open my mouth and tell stories. I will speak about things that were hidden. They happened a long time ago.
3
We have heard about them and we know them. Our people who lived before us have told us about them.
4
We won't hide them from our children. We will tell them to those who live after us. We will tell them about what the Lord has done that is worthy of praise. We will talk about his power and the wonderful things he has done.
5
He gave laws to the people of Jacob. He gave Israel their law. He commanded our people who lived before us to teach his laws to their children.
6
Then those born later would know his laws. Even their children yet to come would know them. And they in turn would tell their children.
7
Then they would put their trust in God. They would not forget what he had done. They would obey his commands.
8
They would not be like their people who lived before them. Those people were stubborn. They refused to obey God. Their hearts were not true to him. Their spirits were not faithful to him.
9
The soldiers of Ephraim were armed with bows. But they ran away on the day of battle.
10
They didn't keep the covenant God had made with them. They refused to live by his law.
11
They forgot what he had done. They didn't remember the wonders he had shown them.
12
He did miracles right in front of our people who lived long ago. At that time they were living in the land of Egypt, in the area of Zoan.
13
God parted the Red Sea and led them through it. He made the water stand up like a wall.
14
He guided them with the cloud during the day. He led them with the light of a fire all night long.
15
He broke the rocks open in the desert. He gave them as much water as there is in the oceans.
16
He brought streams out of a rocky cliff. He made water flow down like rivers.
17
But they continued to sin against him. In the desert they refused to obey the Most High God.
18
They were stubborn and put God to the test. They ordered him to give them the food they longed for.
19
They spoke against God. They said, "Can God put food on a table in the desert?
20
When he struck the rock, streams of water poured out. Huge amounts of water flowed down. But can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?"
21
When the Lord heard what they said, he was very angry. His anger broke out like fire against the people of Jacob. He became very angry with Israel.
22
That was because they didn't believe in God. They didn't trust in his power to save them.
23
But he gave a command to the skies above. He opened the doors of the heavens.
24
He rained down manna for the people to eat. He gave them the grain of heaven.
25
Mere men ate the bread of angels. He sent them all of the food they could eat.
26
He made the east wind blow from the heavens. By his power he caused the south wind to blow.
27
He rained meat down on them like dust. He sent them birds like sand on the seashore.
28
He made the birds come down inside their camp. The birds fell all around their tents.
29
People ate until they had more than enough. He gave them what they had longed for.
30
But even before they had finished eating, God acted. He did it while the food was still in their mouths.
31
His anger rose up against them. He put to death the strongest among them. He struck down Israel's young men.
32
But even after all that, they kept on sinning. Even after they had seen the miracles he did, they still didn't believe.
33
So he brought their days to an end like a puff of smoke. He ended their years with terror.
34
Every time God killed some of them, the others would look to him. They gladly turned back to him again.
35
They remembered that God was their Rock. They remembered that God Most High had set them free.
36
But they didn't mean it when they praised him. They lied to him when they spoke.
37
Their hearts were not true to him. They weren't faithful to the covenant he had made with them.
38
But he was full of tender love. He forgave their sins and didn't destroy his people. Time after time he held back his anger. He didn't let all of his burning anger blaze out.
39
He remembered that they were only human. He remembered they were only a breath of air that drifts by and doesn't return.
40
How often they refused to obey him in the desert! How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!
41
Again and again they put God to the test. They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.
42
They didn't remember his power. They forgot the day he set them free from those who had beaten them down.
43
They forgot how he had shown them his miraculous signs in Egypt. They forgot his miracles in the area of Zoan.
44
He turned the rivers of Egypt into blood. The people of Egypt couldn't drink water from their streams.
45
He sent large numbers of flies that bit them. He sent frogs that destroyed their land.
46
He gave their crops to the grasshoppers. He gave their food to the locusts.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail. He destroyed their fig trees with sleet.
48
He killed their cattle with hail. Their livestock were struck by lightning.
49
He brought great trouble on Egypt by pouring out his blazing anger. In his hot anger he sent destroying angels against them.
50
God prepared a path for his anger. He didn't spare their lives. He gave them over to the plague.
51
He killed the oldest son of each family in Egypt. He struck down the oldest son in every house in the land of Ham.
52
But he brought his people out like a flock. He led them like sheep through the desert.
53
He guided them safely, and they weren't afraid. But the Red Sea swallowed up their enemies.
54
He brought his people to the border of his holy land. He led them to the central hill country he had taken by his power.
55
He drove the nations out to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56
But they put God to the test. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn't keep his laws.
57
Like their people who lived before them, they turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn't shoot straight. They couldn't be trusted.
58
They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.
59
When God saw what the people were doing, he was very angry. He turned away from them completely.
60
He deserted the holy tent at Shiloh. He left the tent he had set up among his people.
61
He allowed the ark to be captured. Into the hands of his enemies he sent the ark where his glory rested.
62
He let his people be killed with swords. He was very angry with them.
63
Fire destroyed their young men. Their young women had no one to get married to.
64
Their priests were killed with swords. Their widows weren't able to cry.
65
Then the Lord woke up as if he had been sleeping. He was like a man waking up from the deep sleep caused by wine.
66
He drove his enemies back. He put them to shame that will last forever.
67
He turned his back on the tents of the people of Joseph. He didn't choose to live in the tribe of Ephraim.
68
Instead, he chose to live in the tribe of Judah. He chose Mount Zion, which he loved.
69
There he built his holy place as secure as the heavens. He built it to last forever, like the earth.
70
He chose his servant David. He took him from the sheep pens.
71
He brought him from tending sheep to be the shepherd of his people Jacob. He made him the shepherd of Israel, his special people.
72
David cared for them with a faithful and honest heart. With skilled hands he led them.
Summary of Psalm 78
Psalm 78 is a long historical wisdom psalm that teaches God's people to remember their history, especially the repeated pattern of God's faithfulness and Israel's forgetfulness, rebellion, judgment, repentance, and renewed failure. Traditionally associated with Asaph, the chapter is designed to teach one generation after another so that children will understand God's works and avoid repeating the mistakes of their ancestors.
The psalm begins with an instruction to remember and teach.
The older generation must tell the younger generation about God's strength, works, commandments, and faithfulness.
The purpose of remembering history is not simply to preserve information but to shape future behavior.
The people should place their confidence in God rather than becoming like their ancestors.
The chapter then recounts Israel's history beginning with the Exodus.
God divided the sea, guided His people with clouds and fire, provided water from rocks, gave manna from heaven, and supplied birds for food.
Despite these extraordinary miracles, Israel repeatedly complained, questioned God's ability, tested Him, and refused to trust His promises.
The psalm emphasizes that the problem was not a lack of evidence.
The people had witnessed God's power but repeatedly forgot what He had done.
This forgetfulness became the root of their rebellion.
The psalm then recalls God's judgment while also emphasizing His mercy.
When the people suffered consequences, they sometimes returned to God, but their repentance was often temporary and superficial.
Nevertheless, God repeatedly showed compassion because He remembered their human weakness.
The chapter then returns to the Exodus and describes God's judgments against Egypt.
The plagues demonstrate that God possessed authority over nature, agriculture, animals, water, and human life.
After delivering Israel from Egypt, God guided them through the wilderness and eventually brought them into the promised land.
Yet receiving the land did not eliminate their tendency toward rebellion.
The people continued to test God, worship idols, and follow their own desires.
The psalm then describes the consequences of this unfaithfulness, including the rejection of Shiloh and the capture of the ark by Israel's enemies.
This section demonstrates that God's covenant relationship did not mean that Israel could continually rebel without consequences.
The final section describes God's decision to choose Judah, Zion, and David.
Instead of Ephraim, God chose Judah and established His sanctuary at Zion.
He then chose David, a shepherd, to lead Israel.
David's leadership is presented positively because he guided the people with integrity of heart and skillful hands.
The ending therefore provides a contrast between unreliable Israelite behavior and the possibility of faithful leadership.
Psalm 78 ultimately presents history as a spiritual responsibility rather than merely a record of ancient events, because the psalmist wants every generation to understand that remembering God's works should produce trust, obedience, humility, and faithfulness rather than simply admiration for the past. The opening command to teach children is therefore essential to the entire chapter, because the community's future depends upon whether one generation successfully communicates the lessons learned from previous generations. The people are not merely instructed to tell their children that God performed miracles, but to explain what those miracles revealed about God's character and why Israel's ancestors repeatedly suffered when they forgot the One who had delivered and sustained them.
The central pattern throughout the psalm is remarkably consistent, because God repeatedly demonstrates extraordinary faithfulness while Israel repeatedly responds with forgetfulness, questioning, rebellion, and temporary repentance. God divides the sea, guides His people through the wilderness, provides water from rocks, sends food from heaven, protects them from enemies, and eventually gives them a land in which to live, yet none of these experiences permanently changes the people's hearts. Their greatest problem is therefore not that God has failed to provide evidence of His power, but that they repeatedly allow present desires and fears to become more important than the history of God's faithfulness. The psalm teaches that remembering God's past actions is essential because spiritual forgetfulness can gradually lead people toward distrust, disobedience, and rebellion.
The wilderness section demonstrates this problem especially clearly, because the people experience God's provision and then almost immediately question whether He can provide what they want next. They drink water that God provides from the rock, yet they ask whether He can give them food. They receive manna from heaven, yet they continue demanding additional food according to their desires. When God provides an enormous supply of meat, their appetite still does not disappear, showing that the deepest problem is not physical hunger but uncontrolled desire. The psalm therefore presents a warning that receiving what a person wants does not necessarily satisfy the heart, because someone can possess abundance while continuing to complain, demand more, and distrust the One who provided everything.
Another major theme is the relationship between God's judgment and His mercy, because the psalm does not portray God as ignoring Israel's rebellion, yet it also repeatedly emphasizes that He does not destroy them according to the full measure of their wrongdoing. When the people turn back toward Him, He shows compassion and remembers that they are weak and mortal. Their repentance, however, is often described as incomplete because their hearts remain divided, teaching that outward words of repentance cannot replace genuine inward faithfulness. This combination of justice and mercy gives the historical account much greater depth, because the people experience real consequences for rebellion while simultaneously receiving repeated opportunities to return to God.
The later historical section demonstrates that entering the promised land did not automatically solve Israel's spiritual problem, because the same pattern of rebellion continued after the wilderness generation had passed away. The people turned toward high places and carved images, provoking God through idolatry and demonstrating that physical settlement in the land could not substitute for faithful obedience. The rejection of Shiloh and the capture of the ark become powerful symbols of this failure, because the people could not assume that possessing sacred institutions would protect them while they continued to reject the God those institutions represented. The psalm therefore warns against treating religious symbols, traditions, buildings, or outward identity as substitutes for genuine faithfulness.
The final movement toward Judah, Zion, and David provides an important contrast with the earlier history of failure, because God chooses a particular tribe, establishes Zion as a central place of worship, and raises David from the humble occupation of shepherding sheep to the responsibility of shepherding an entire nation. David is presented as a leader who combines integrity of heart with skillful hands, suggesting that effective leadership requires both moral character and practical ability. His example provides a hopeful conclusion to a chapter filled with repeated failure, because God's purposes continue even when individual generations repeatedly fall short.
Psalm 78 therefore teaches that remembering history is essential for faithful living, because every generation inherits both the blessings and warnings contained within the experiences of those who came before. The chapter calls people to remember God's deliverance, remember His provision, remember His patience, remember the consequences of rebellion, and remember the importance of teaching these lessons to children. Its final image of David leading Israel with integrity and skill suggests that the goal of remembering the past is not simply to feel regret about previous failures, but to become wiser and more faithful in the present. The chapter ultimately presents God's faithfulness as remarkably persistent while human faithfulness remains fragile, encouraging every generation to learn from history, trust God's promises, resist the temptation to forget His works, and teach future generations to recognize that genuine faith requires both a committed heart and obedient hands.
The psalm begins with an instruction to remember and teach.
The older generation must tell the younger generation about God's strength, works, commandments, and faithfulness.
The purpose of remembering history is not simply to preserve information but to shape future behavior.
The people should place their confidence in God rather than becoming like their ancestors.
The chapter then recounts Israel's history beginning with the Exodus.
God divided the sea, guided His people with clouds and fire, provided water from rocks, gave manna from heaven, and supplied birds for food.
Despite these extraordinary miracles, Israel repeatedly complained, questioned God's ability, tested Him, and refused to trust His promises.
The psalm emphasizes that the problem was not a lack of evidence.
The people had witnessed God's power but repeatedly forgot what He had done.
This forgetfulness became the root of their rebellion.
The psalm then recalls God's judgment while also emphasizing His mercy.
When the people suffered consequences, they sometimes returned to God, but their repentance was often temporary and superficial.
Nevertheless, God repeatedly showed compassion because He remembered their human weakness.
The chapter then returns to the Exodus and describes God's judgments against Egypt.
The plagues demonstrate that God possessed authority over nature, agriculture, animals, water, and human life.
After delivering Israel from Egypt, God guided them through the wilderness and eventually brought them into the promised land.
Yet receiving the land did not eliminate their tendency toward rebellion.
The people continued to test God, worship idols, and follow their own desires.
The psalm then describes the consequences of this unfaithfulness, including the rejection of Shiloh and the capture of the ark by Israel's enemies.
This section demonstrates that God's covenant relationship did not mean that Israel could continually rebel without consequences.
The final section describes God's decision to choose Judah, Zion, and David.
Instead of Ephraim, God chose Judah and established His sanctuary at Zion.
He then chose David, a shepherd, to lead Israel.
David's leadership is presented positively because he guided the people with integrity of heart and skillful hands.
The ending therefore provides a contrast between unreliable Israelite behavior and the possibility of faithful leadership.
Psalm 78 ultimately presents history as a spiritual responsibility rather than merely a record of ancient events, because the psalmist wants every generation to understand that remembering God's works should produce trust, obedience, humility, and faithfulness rather than simply admiration for the past. The opening command to teach children is therefore essential to the entire chapter, because the community's future depends upon whether one generation successfully communicates the lessons learned from previous generations. The people are not merely instructed to tell their children that God performed miracles, but to explain what those miracles revealed about God's character and why Israel's ancestors repeatedly suffered when they forgot the One who had delivered and sustained them.
The central pattern throughout the psalm is remarkably consistent, because God repeatedly demonstrates extraordinary faithfulness while Israel repeatedly responds with forgetfulness, questioning, rebellion, and temporary repentance. God divides the sea, guides His people through the wilderness, provides water from rocks, sends food from heaven, protects them from enemies, and eventually gives them a land in which to live, yet none of these experiences permanently changes the people's hearts. Their greatest problem is therefore not that God has failed to provide evidence of His power, but that they repeatedly allow present desires and fears to become more important than the history of God's faithfulness. The psalm teaches that remembering God's past actions is essential because spiritual forgetfulness can gradually lead people toward distrust, disobedience, and rebellion.
The wilderness section demonstrates this problem especially clearly, because the people experience God's provision and then almost immediately question whether He can provide what they want next. They drink water that God provides from the rock, yet they ask whether He can give them food. They receive manna from heaven, yet they continue demanding additional food according to their desires. When God provides an enormous supply of meat, their appetite still does not disappear, showing that the deepest problem is not physical hunger but uncontrolled desire. The psalm therefore presents a warning that receiving what a person wants does not necessarily satisfy the heart, because someone can possess abundance while continuing to complain, demand more, and distrust the One who provided everything.
Another major theme is the relationship between God's judgment and His mercy, because the psalm does not portray God as ignoring Israel's rebellion, yet it also repeatedly emphasizes that He does not destroy them according to the full measure of their wrongdoing. When the people turn back toward Him, He shows compassion and remembers that they are weak and mortal. Their repentance, however, is often described as incomplete because their hearts remain divided, teaching that outward words of repentance cannot replace genuine inward faithfulness. This combination of justice and mercy gives the historical account much greater depth, because the people experience real consequences for rebellion while simultaneously receiving repeated opportunities to return to God.
The later historical section demonstrates that entering the promised land did not automatically solve Israel's spiritual problem, because the same pattern of rebellion continued after the wilderness generation had passed away. The people turned toward high places and carved images, provoking God through idolatry and demonstrating that physical settlement in the land could not substitute for faithful obedience. The rejection of Shiloh and the capture of the ark become powerful symbols of this failure, because the people could not assume that possessing sacred institutions would protect them while they continued to reject the God those institutions represented. The psalm therefore warns against treating religious symbols, traditions, buildings, or outward identity as substitutes for genuine faithfulness.
The final movement toward Judah, Zion, and David provides an important contrast with the earlier history of failure, because God chooses a particular tribe, establishes Zion as a central place of worship, and raises David from the humble occupation of shepherding sheep to the responsibility of shepherding an entire nation. David is presented as a leader who combines integrity of heart with skillful hands, suggesting that effective leadership requires both moral character and practical ability. His example provides a hopeful conclusion to a chapter filled with repeated failure, because God's purposes continue even when individual generations repeatedly fall short.
Psalm 78 therefore teaches that remembering history is essential for faithful living, because every generation inherits both the blessings and warnings contained within the experiences of those who came before. The chapter calls people to remember God's deliverance, remember His provision, remember His patience, remember the consequences of rebellion, and remember the importance of teaching these lessons to children. Its final image of David leading Israel with integrity and skill suggests that the goal of remembering the past is not simply to feel regret about previous failures, but to become wiser and more faithful in the present. The chapter ultimately presents God's faithfulness as remarkably persistent while human faithfulness remains fragile, encouraging every generation to learn from history, trust God's promises, resist the temptation to forget His works, and teach future generations to recognize that genuine faith requires both a committed heart and obedient hands.