Psalm 78

W. van der Kamp, 1972, rev.

Give ear, my people, listen to my teaching;
Incline your ear, and let my words be reaching
Your heart and mind, and with their truth impress you;
The parable in which I speak shall bless you.
My mouth will voice dark sayings from of old,
Things we have heard, which us our fathers told.
Such things we’ll tell, not from their children hide them,
That those accounts of olden days may guide them,
And we will tell the coming generation
How God has dealt with Israel, His nation -
The glorious deeds the LORD for them has wrought,
The wonders which His mighty hand them brought.
A testimony He in Jacob founded,
In Israel He had His law expounded,
And to our fathers He, the LORD, commanded
That all His words from kin to kin be handed,
That children yet unborn once might arise
And teach their seed these laws so good and wise.
So would their hope in God alone be founded;
Then they would not forget all He propounded,
Nor come to share their fathers’ condemnation,
That stubborn and rebellious generation,
Those wayward men, who felt His anger’s rod,
Whose spirit was not faithful to their God.
The Ephraimites with bows for war assembled;
Yet they in battle all turned back and trembled.
They did not keep God’s covenant or fear Him,
But they defied His law and did not hear Him,
Forgot His deeds for Israel, His own,
The miracles that He to them had shown.
God wrought great marvels and their fathers saw them;
In Egypt and in Zoan wonders awed them.
There they beheld how He the sea divided
And through the sea His people Israel guided.
He made the waters stand up like a heap;
His mighty hand restrained the roaring deep.
By day He gave a cloud to lead and guide them;
With fiery light He did at night provide them.
He cleft the rocks, and founts sprang up to save them;
Abundant drink as from the deep He gave them.
Out of the barren rock fresh water burst,
And rivers flowed to quench His people’s thirst.
Yet more they sinned against Him in rebelling
When in His care they were in deserts dwelling.
Against the LORD, the Most High, they contested,
And in their evil hearts their God they tested.
In stubborn pride defiantly they raved,
Demanding from His hand the food they craved.
They spoke against their God, “Will He be able
To spread us in the wilderness a table?
He smote the rock, we saw the fountains gushing
And streams of water through the desert rushing,
But can He also give His people bread
And bring us meat so that we may be fed.
Therefore the LORD, who heard their provocation,
Was full of wrath against His chosen nation,
A fiery rage against all Israel mounted;
His anger rose, for never they recounted
What He had done to help them in their plight;
They did not trust His saving power and might.
Yet He commanded then the skies to heed them,
And heaven’s doors He opened wide to feed them,
With bounteous rain of manna them endowing
And heaven’s grain to Israel allowing.
The food of angels gave He them for bread;
Abundantly were Jacob’s children fed.
The east wind He called up from heaven’s borders;
The south wind He led out to do His orders,
And on their wings they brought what God had given,
For flesh, like dust that by the storm is driven,
Rained down upon them from the darkened sky;
With quails the LORD did Israel supply.
They ate and were well filled with flesh He granted;
He gave them all the food they craved and wanted,
But then, before their craving had been sated,
The food still in their mouth, their lust elated,
God’s anger rose against them, and they died;
He slew their strongest men, their flower and pride.
In spite of this, they still with sins did grieve Him;
Despite His wonders they did not believe Him.
So like a breath He made their days to vanish;
Their years went by in terror and in anguish,
But when He slew them, then their eyes did see;
They turned to God and sought Him earnestly.
Then they remembered God, their rock and Savior,
The Most High God, who in redeeming favor
Had brought them out of Egypt that enslaved them.
They flattered Him, yet thought that He would save them.
Though with their lips they might fine words express,
They scorned His cov’nant in their faithlessness.
Yet He in pity and in loving-kindness
Forgave them their iniquity and blindness,
Did not destroy them when His wrath was burning,
But He restrained the anger they were earning,
Rememb’ring that they were but flesh, and vain,
A wind gone by that will not come again.
How often did they all rebel and leave Him,
And with their evil in the desert grieve Him!
They tested Him, always His word decrying,
The Holy One of Israel denying,
And they for got how He His might did show
That day when He redeemed them from their foe.
Through wondrous deeds His Israel He delivered;
He turned to blood all Egypt’s mighty rivers,
And swarms of flies He on their fields did shower,
Frogs which destroyed them showed His anger’s power.
To caterpillars crops and grass He gave;
From hungry locusts none their fruits could save.
With hail and frost their trees and vines He shattered;
Their flocks and herds with thunderbolts were scattered.
He loosed on them His wrath and indignation;
It caused distress and widespread devastation.
Destroying angels He among them sent,
Who brought great ruin everywhere they went.
Free rein He gave His fury to ensnare them;
From death and grave His anger did not spare them.
He gave their lives to plague and devastation;
And heavy was His hand on Pharaoh’s nation.
Their firstborn everywhere His hand did smite;
Death came to all Ham’s dwellings overnight.
Then He led forth His people, and He guided
Like sheep His children who in Him confided.
He led their flock, and without fear they followed,
For all their enemies the sea had swallowed.
And to His holy land He brought His own,
Unto the mount which His right hand had won.
The LORD drove out before them heathen nations,
Apportioned to the tribes their habitations,
And in their tents they safely found a dwelling;
Yet they, against the Most High God rebelling,
Turned traitors, for His laws were not observed,
And, like their fathers, from God’s ways they swerved.
They twisted like deceitful bows and braces;
His anger they provoked with their high places,
For in their idols’ service they were zealous,
And with their images they made Him jealous;
Great was God’s wrath when He saw them rebel.
He utterly rejected Israel.
The tent at Shiloh, where He had been dwelling,
He left when He His people heard rebelling;
To enemies His power He did surrender,
Into their hands the ark with all its splendor.
He gave His people over to the sword,
In anger that His word had been ignored.
Then did the raging flames their youths devour;
Their maidens had no bridal song or bower;
Their priests fell by the sword of heathen nations,
Their widows made for them no lamentations.
The land which God once to their fathers gave
The peoples round about did now enslave.
The LORD then as from slumber did awaken;
He saw how enemies His land had taken,
And like a warrior, swords and arrows flouting,
Who, flushed with wine, his joy is boldly shouting,
So God stood up, to Israel’s help He came,
And put their foes to everlasting shame.
The tent of Joseph’s children He rejected,
In Ephraim His house was not erected;
He chose the tribe of Judah for His nation,
Mount Zion, which He loves as habitation.
He like the heavens built His sanctuary,
And like the earth, to last eternally.
He chose His servant David, and He crowned him,
He took him from the sheepfold where He found him;
From tending ewes and newborn lambs He brought him;
To make him Jacob’s shepherd God had sought him.
With upright heart did David tend the land
And guided Israel with skilful hand.