Psalms 78

1 A maskil of Asaph. I Attend, my people, to my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in story, drawing lessons from of old.
3 We have heard them, we know them; our ancestors have recited them to us.
4 We do not keep them from our children; we recite them to the next generation, The praiseworthy and mighty deeds of the LORD, the wonders that he performed.
5 God set up a decree in Jacob, established a law in Israel: What he commanded our ancestors, they were to teach their children;
6 That the next generation might come to know, children yet to be born. In turn they were to recite them to their children,
7 that they too might put their trust in God, And not forget the works of God, keeping his commandments.
8 They were not to be like their ancestors, a rebellious and defiant generation, A generation whose heart was not constant, whose spirit was not faithful to God,
9 Like the ranks of Ephraimite archers, who retreated on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God's covenant; they refused to walk by his law.
11 They forgot his works, the wondrous deeds he had shown them.
12 II In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders, in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and led them across, piling up the waters rigid as walls.
14 God led them with a cloud by day, all night with the light of fire.
15 He split rock in the desert, gave water to drink, abounding as the deep.
16 He made streams flow from crags, drew out rivers of water.
17 But they went on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their hearts, demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, and said, Can God spread a table in the desert?
20 True, when he struck the rock, water gushed forth, the wadis flooded. But can he also provide bread, give meat to his people?
21 The LORD heard and grew angry; fire blazed up against Jacob; anger flared up against Israel.
22 For they did not believe in God, did not trust in his saving power.
23 So he commanded the skies above; the doors of heaven he opened.
24 God rained manna upon them for food; bread from heaven he gave them.
25 All ate a meal fit for heroes; food he sent in abundance.
26 He stirred up the east wind in the heavens; by his power God brought on the south wind.
27 He rained meat upon them like dust, winged fowl like the sands of the sea,
28 Brought them down in the midst of the camp, round about their tents.
29 They ate and were well filled; he gave them what they had craved.
30 But while they still wanted more, and the food was still in their mouths,
31 God's anger attacked them, killed their best warriors, laid low the youth of Israel.
32 In spite of all this they went on sinning, they did not believe in his wonders.
33 God ended their days abruptly, their years in sudden death.
34 When he slew them, they began to seek him; they again inquired of their God.
35 They remembered that God was their rock, God Most High, their redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths, lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not constant toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But God is merciful and forgave their sin; he did not utterly destroy them. Time and again he turned back his anger, unwilling to unleash all his rage.
39 He was mindful that they were flesh, a breath that passes and does not return.
40 III How often they rebelled against God in the desert, grieved him in the wasteland.
41 Again and again they tested God, provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power, the day he redeemed them from the foe,
43 When he displayed his wonders in Egypt, his marvels in the plain of Zoan.
44 God changed their rivers to blood; their streams they could not drink.
45 He sent insects that devoured them, frogs that destroyed them.
46 He gave their harvest to the caterpillar, the fruits of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail, their sycamores with frost.
48 He exposed their flocks to deadly hail, their cattle to lightning.
49 He unleashed against them his fiery breath, roar, fury, and distress, storming messengers of death.
50 He cleared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death; he delivered their beasts to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, love's first child in the tents of Ham.
52 God led forth his people like sheep; he guided them through the desert like a flock.
53 He led them on secure and unafraid, but the sea enveloped their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy land, the mountain his right hand had won.
55 God drove out the nations before them, apportioned them a heritage by lot, settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 But they tested, rebelled against God Most High, his decrees they did not observe.
57 They turned back, deceitful like their ancestors; they proved false like a bow with no tension.
58 They enraged him with their high places; with their idols they goaded him.
59 God heard and grew angry; he rejected Israel completely.
60 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt with humans.
61 He gave up his might into captivity, his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.
62 God abandoned his people to the sword; he was enraged against his heritage.
63 Fire consumed their young men; their young women heard no wedding songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior from the effects of wine.
66 He put his enemies to flight; everlasting shame he dealt them.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
68 God chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he favored.
69 He built his shrine like the heavens, like the earth which he founded forever.
70 He chose David his servant, took him from the sheepfold.
71 From tending sheep God brought him, to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his heritage.
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart; with skilled hands he guided them.

Psalms 79

1 A psalm of Asaph. I O God, the nations have invaded your heritage; they have defiled your holy temple, have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have left the corpses of your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your faithful for the beasts of the earth.
3 They have spilled their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and no one is left to bury them.
4 We have become the reproach of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.
5 II How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your rage keep burning like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on nations that reject you, on kingdoms that do not call on your name,
7 For they have devoured Jacob, laid waste his home.
8 Do not hold past iniquities against us; may your compassion come quickly, for we have been brought very low.
9 III Help us, God our savior, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name's sake.
10 Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Before our eyes make clear to the nations that you avenge the blood of your servants.
11 IV Let the groans of prisoners come before you; by your great power free those doomed to death.
12 Lord, inflict on our neighbors seven fold the disgrace they inflicted on you.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all ages we will declare your praise.

Psalms 80

1 For the leader; according to Lilies. Eduth. A psalm of Asaph. I Shepherd of Israel, listen, guide of the flock of Joseph! From your throne upon the cherubim reveal yourself
2 to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Stir up your power, come to save us.
3 O LORD of hosts, restore us; Let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
4 II LORD of hosts, how long will you burn with anger while your people pray?
5 You have fed them the bread of tears, made them drink tears in abundance.
6 You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors; our enemies deride us.
7 O LORD of hosts, restore us; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
8 III You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove away the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground; it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shadow, the cedars of God by its branches.
11 It sent out boughs as far as the sea, shoots as far as the river.
12 Why have you broken down the walls, so that all who pass by pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest strips the vine; the beast of the field feeds upon it.
14 Turn again, LORD of hosts; look down from heaven and see; Attend to this vine,
15 the shoot your right hand has planted.
16 Those who would burn or cut it down--may they perish at your rebuke.
17 May your help be with the man at your right hand, with the one whom you once made strong.
18 Then we will not withdraw from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 LORD of hosts, restore us; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Psalms 81

1 For the leader; upon the gittith. Of Asaph. I Sing joyfully to God our strength; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob!
2 Take up a melody, sound the timbrel, the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast.
4 For this is a law in Israel, an edict of the God of Jacob,
5 Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt. II I hear a new oracle:
6 I relieved their shoulders of the burden; their hands put down the basket.
7 In distress you called and I rescued you; unseen, I spoke to you in thunder; At the waters of Meribah I tested you and said: Selah
8 'Listen, my people, I give you warning! If only you will obey me, Israel!
9 There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.
10 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.'
11 But my people did not listen to my words; Israel did not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to hardness of heart; they followed their own designs.
13 But even now if my people would listen, if Israel would walk in my paths,
14 In a moment I would subdue their foes, against their enemies unleash my hand.
15 Those who hate the LORD would tremble, their doom sealed forever.
16 But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock.